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URINARY 17-HYDROXYCORTICOSTEROIDS AND 17-KETOSTEROIDS IN CASTRATED VS. INTACT MEN: SUPPLEMENTARY COMPARISONS IN FEEBLE-MINDED VS. MENTALLY NORMAL MEN^*

JAMES B. HAMILTON, PH.D., LEITHA D. BUNCH, M.A. and GORDON E. MESTLER

The daily urinary excretion of 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (17-OHCS) and 17-ketosteroids (17-KS) was studied in 52 castrated men and 31 intact men, 23 to 81 years of age; all were in good health and living under a similar regimen in the same institution for the feeble-minded. Mean values for 17-KS tended to be lower in castrated than in intact men, and were markedly so when calculated per Kg. of body weight. The degree of variation in 17-KS excretion from subject to subject was greater in castrated than in intact men. In a few eunuchs, the titers of 17-KS were normal or elevated. Mean titers of 17-OHCS were similar in castrated and intact men at all ages. Age at castration or duration of the castrate state did not influence values for 17-OHCS or 17-KS excretion or the relative proportions of these two types of steroid. The relationship between titers of 17-OHCS and 17-KS in the same subjects was significant, both in the eunuchs and in the intact men. Among young adult intact males, the daily values for urinary 17-KS, but not 17-OHCS, were significantly lower in the feeble-minded than in those of normal mentality. With advancing age, the values for urinary 17-KS were reduced in the eunuchs, particularly when calculated per Kg. of body weight. That aging is associated with declining titers of 17-KS in eunuchs, strongly suggests that adrenocortical secretions participate to a major extent in this phenomenon.

^* Initially, this work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, U.S.P.H.S., through research grant A-89 from the National Institute for Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases and H-1497 from the National Heart Institute. Its completion was made possible by the Harris McLaughlin Foundation. It is also a pleasure to acknowledge the technical aid of Sven Ebbesson.

Department of Anatomy, State University of New York, College of Medicine at New York City, Brooklyn, N.Y.

The H. L. Snyder Memorial Research Foundation, Winfield, Kansas.

Received September 8, 1958.