STUDIES ON CORPUS LUTEUM FUNCTION I. THE URINARY EXCRETION OF SODIUM PREGNANEDIOL GLUCURONIDATE IN THE HUMAN MENSTRUAL CYCLE.

Abstract

Our understanding of the mechanism and physiology of the menstrual cycle has been greatly clarified in recent years, from the chemical aspect by the preparation and use of crystalline ovarian hormones and from the anatomical aspect by the taking of repeated endometrial biopsies. Much work has been done on the quantitative determination in urine and blood of the estrogens and gonadotropic hormones. Up to within the last year, however, the assay of the corpus luteum hormone progesterone, in body tissues and fluids, had failed to throw any light upon the relative amounts of this hormone produced in the body. Loewe and Voss (1) found that 20 litres of urine collected during pregnancy and the latter half of the menstrual cycle contained only 1 Clauberg Rb.U. of progesterone. Clauberg and co-workers (2) and Pratt (3) respectively reported that it required extracts of human corpora lutea corresponding to 55 to 60 gm. of tissue to give a positive reaction for this hormone. Bloch (4) was unable to detect progester...