We have previously documented the presence of progesterone and androstenedione in the water column and bottom sediments of the Fenholloway River, Taylor County, Florida. This river receives paper mill effluent and contains masculinized female mosquitofish. We hypothesized that plant sterols (e.g., ss-sitosterol) derived from the pulping of pine trees are transformed by bacteria into progesteron...

Steroid hormones pose potential risks to fish and other aquatic organisms at extremely low concentrations. To assess the factors affecting the release of endogenous estrogenic and androgenic steroids from feedlots during rainfall, runoff, and soil samples were collected after simulated rainfall on a 14-steer feedlot under different rainfall rates and aging periods and analyzed for six steroid h...

Ovarian and adrenal function were studied in premenopausal breast cancer patients before and at intervals during adjuvant therapy with cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil (CMF), CMF plus prednisone (CMFP), or CMFP plus tamoxifen (CMFPT). Amenorrhea developed within 10 months of starting therapy in 13 of 15 patients given CMF, 8 of 10 receiving CMFP, and all of 13 CMFPT-treated pa...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of glucose, galactose and fructose on the LH-induced differentiation and mRNA expression of sugar transport facilitators (SLC2A) by sheep thecal cells derived from small antral follicles cultured under serum-free conditions for 6 days. The dose and type of monosaccharide had a significant effect on LH-induced androstenedione production...

4-Androstenedione (AD), a 19-carbon steroid hormone is an oxidation product of phytosterol fermentation by Mycobacterium sp. The isolation of the product from the fermentation broth is a challenging task. Downstream processing is an important aspect of all biotechnological processes and has significant implications on quality and yield of the final product. In the present study, the statistical...

The endocrinological changes of the climacteric have been defined by studying the concentrations of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), androstenedione, testosterone, oestrone, and oestradiol in 60 normal postmenopausal women of different menopausal ages. The women were studied in six groups, according to the number of years since their menopause. One year after the me...

Both peripheral innervation and nitric oxide (NO) participate in ovarian steroidogenesis. The purpose of this work was to analyse the ganglionic adrenergic influence on the ovarian release of steroids and NO and the possible steroids/NO relationship. The experiments were carried out in the ex vivo coeliac ganglion-superior ovarian nerve (SON)-ovary system of prepubertal rats. The coeliac gangli...

Ovarian steroid metabolism was investigated (i) during development in a normal inbred strain in which post-natal follicle growth has been described and (ii) in adult hypogonadal (hpg) mice which lack GnRH and have very low serum concentrations of gonadotrophins. Tissue was incubated with [3H]pregnenolone or [3H]androstenedione and metabolites separated by t.l.c. or h.p.l.c. Progesterone was the...