Androsterone

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Androsterone (ADT) is a steroid hormone with weak androgenic activity. It is made in the liver from the metabolism of testosterone. It was first isolated in 1931, by Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt and Kurt Tscherning. They distilled over 17000 litres of male urine, from which they got 50 milligrams of crystalline androsterone, which was sufficient to find that the chemical formula was very similar to estrone.

Celery is claimed to contain androsterone however this is a mistake. Celery actually contains androstenone, which has a different structure to Androsterone and is otherwise unrelated. Androsterone is often advertised as influencing human behavior, but there is little data to substantiate its use as a pheromone. Androsterone has been shown to naturally occur in the pine pollen and is well known in many animal species. (2)

Androsterone and its 3b isomer (epiandrosterone) are naturally produced by the enzyme 5aReductase from the adrenal hormone DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone). Androsterone can also be converted from the natural steroids 5aAndrostanediol via 17b-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase or from 5aAndrostanedione via 3a-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase.

[edit] External links

• Androsterone entry in the HMDB

(1) Experientia. 1979 Dec 15;35(12):1674-5.Links The boar-pheromone steroid identified in vegetables. Claus R, Hoppen HO.

(2) FOLIA HISTOCHEMICA ET CYTOBIOLOGICA Vol. 43, No. 2, 2005 pp. 71-79 Mammalian sex hormones in plants Anna Janeczko and Andrzej Skoczowski Institute of Plant Physiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland