The metabolism of testosterone in the isolated perfused dog liver.

The intermediate metabolism of androgens has been the subject of many investigations by incubation of liver slices and homogenates with testosterone or other suitable (319 compounds (l-4). The enzymatic reduction of the a,Bunsaturated ketone in ring A (4) and the oxidation of the C-17 hydroxyl group (1, 4) have been the major transformations demonstrated. However, Schneider and Mason (5) have shown an oxidation of C-16 to an a-hydroxyl group with concomitant reduction of the 17ketone to a 17B-hydroxyl group upon incubation of dehydroepiandrosterone with rabbit liver slices. Recently, fl-hydroxylation of C-6 has been demonstrated after perfusion of testosterone through rat liver (6). In this communication we wish to report the results of a short term perfusion of a male dog liver with testosterone. It is noteworthy that, in the viable isolated whole organ, oxidation of 1 or more carbon atoms rather than reduction as in the CZ molecules (7, 8) was the principal reaction observed.