Metabolism of 16-alpha-hydroxysteroids in man.

It was in 1930 that the first l6-alpha-hydroxysteroid, namely estriol, was isolated from human pregnancy urine by Marrian (1) and Doisy et al (2). In the ensuing years, a number of 16-alpha-hydroxysteroids, both neutral and phenolic, have been isolated from various sources. A large quantity of l6-alpha-hydroxylated metabolites have been isolated from normal human urine, from the urine of individuals with various diseases and from human pregnancy urine. Neher et al (3) isolated 3-alpha,16-alpha-dihydroxy-5-alpha-pregnan-20-one and 3-alpha,16-alpha-dihydroxy-5-beta-pregnan-20-one from the urine of a subject with the salt-losing form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. [...