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JAMES B. HAMILTON, LEITHA D. BUNCH, GORDON E. MESTLER, URINARY 17-HYDROXYCORTICOSTEROIDS AND 17-KETOSTEROIDS IN CASTRATED VS. INTACT MEN: SUPPLEMENTARY COMPARISONS IN FEEBLE-MINDED VS. MENTALLY NORMAL MEN, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 19, Issue 5, 1 May 1959, Pages 535–547, https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem-19-5-535
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Abstract
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.
