Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a common liver disorder, mostly occurring in the third trimester. ICP is defined as an elevation of serum bile acids, typically accompanied by pruritus and elevated activities of liver aminotransferases. ICP is caused by impaired biliary lipid secretion, in which endogenous steroids may play a key role. Although ICP is benign for the pregnant woman...

Four new ent-abietane diterpenoids, along with four known ones were isolated from the aerial parts of Isodon serra, a traditional Chinese folk medicine. The new diterpenoids were named as serrin K (1), xerophilusin XVII (2), and enanderianins Q and R (3 and 4), while the known ones were identified as rubescansin J (5), (3α,14β)-3,18-[(1-methylethane-1,1-diyl)dioxy]-ent-abieta-7,15(17)-diene-14,...

The neuroactive steroid 5α-pregnan-3α,21-diol-20-one (THDOC) at 1 μM reversibly potentiated GABA-mediated synaptic events recorded in dentate gyrus granule cells and cerebellar Purkinje cells in brain slices 18-21 day old male rats. Lower concentrations of THDOC were ineffective. This was also true for cerebellar Purkinje cells from 10-13 day old animals. In contrast, in dendate granule cells f...

The title steroid, C34H50O6S, is an inter-mediate on the synthetic route between diosgenin and brassinosteroids, which possess the A ring modified with the 2α,3α-diol functionality. The polycyclic spiro-stan system has the expected conformation, with six-membered rings adopting chair forms and the five-membered rings envelope forms (flap atoms are the methine C atom in the C/D-ring junction and...

A phytochemical investigation on the essential oil of Thuja orientalis resulted in the isolation and identification of three new sesquiterpenes, 3α-methoxy-4α-epoxythujopsane (1), Δ³,¹⁵-4β-epoxythujopsene (2), and Δ³,⁴-thujopsen-2,15-diol (3), together with eight known sesquiterpenoids (4-11). The structures of these new compounds were elucidated based on spectroscopic data analyses including e...

N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) induces estrogen-dependent mammary tumors in female Lewis rats. We explored the antineoplastic activity of a synthetic androstane derivative, 17α-ethynyl-5α-androstane-3α, 17β-diol (HE3235), as a single agent or in combination with docetaxel compared to tamoxifen, anastrazole, and docetaxel monotherapies against MNU-induced mammary tumors in female Lewis rats. Treat...

The extraction of anabolic steroids (1,4-androstadiene-3,17-dione; 17α-methyltestosterone; 19-norethiocholanolone; 4-hydroxytestosterone; 4-androstene-3,17-dione; 5α-androstane-3β,17β-diol; dehydroepiandrosterone; calusterone; clostebol; methandienone; methyldienolone; nandrolone; testosterone; epitestosterone; tibolone; 19-norandrostenedione; 1-methylene-5α-androstan-3α-ol-17-one) by aqueous-o...

A library of steroid glucuronides was prepared using the glucuronylsynthase derived from Escherichia coliβ-glucuronidase, followed by purification using solid-phase extraction. A representative range of steroid substrates were screened for synthesis on the milligram scale under optimised conditions with conversions dependent on steroid substitution and stereochemistry. Epiandrosterone (3β-hydro...