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CONVERSION OF CORTISOL TO CORTISONE BY THE HUMAN UTERUS AND ITS REVERSAL IN PREGNANCY

Reproductive Physiology Unit, Montreal General Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, McGill University Montreal, Canada.

Inter-conversion of cortisol (F) and cortisone (E) was investigated by incubating minced tissue with tritiated cortisol or cortisone and then separating the products by Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. In nonpregnant subjects conversion of F to E predominated (43.4 ± 3.4% vs 0.1 ± 0.4% for E to F). In early pregnancy F E decreased and E F rose while at term E F (46.3 ± 9.1 %) exceeded F E (15.1 ± 6.8%). These results were in accord with those obtained by assaying the endogenous concentrations. In nonpregnant subjects the F/E ratio (1.1 ± 0.6) was lower than that found in serum (6.3 ± 2.2) while at term the uterine F/E (9.0 ± 1.8) was similar to that of serum (8.8 ± 2.0). These changes resulted in an 8-fold increase in uterine F compared with a 3-fold increase in serum F, while uterine E fell to 1/2 and serum E doubled. Thus, during pregnancy there is a dramatic reversal of the reaction in the uterus in favour of the active hormone. It seems possible that the increase in cortisol thus brought about may play an anti-immune role in the uterine wall, the single tissue apart from blood in direct contact with fetal tissue.

Received February 28, 1977.

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