PHARMACOLOGY OF 17α-methyl-5α-androstane-17β-ol

In a previous paper, we have shown that the anabolic activity of 17α-methyl-5α- androstane-17β-ol (3-deoxy-HMT) in castrated mice was almost identical with that of 17a-methyltestosterone (MT), while its androgenic potency was only one third of that of MT. In this paper, some pharmacological aspects of 3-deoxy-HMT were reported. In castrated mice, 3-deoxy-HMT was found to increase the weight of the levator ani bulbocavernosus muscles and the kidney. In the mean time, the compound seemed to elicit a concomittant increase of the RNA content of both tissues. In fasted adrenolec- tomized mice, 3-deoxy-HMT, in the doses used, caused no increase of the hepatic glyco- gen. Neither was the size of cotton-pellet granuloma affected, nor was the antiinflamma- tory effect of cortisone modified by this compound. However, the total hepatic choles- terol in cholesterol fed rats was lowered by such treatment. Ethionine or carbon tetra- chloride-induced fatty infiltration of the liver in mice was fully counteracted by adminis- tering 3-deoxy-HMT. When pentobarbital (a drug which is metabolized in the liver) was administered to female rats two weeks after 3-deoxy-HMT treatment, there was a shor- tening of the sleeping-time by two thirds as compared with that of the control rats. How- ever, 3-deoxy-HMT had no influence on diethylbarbital (a drug which is not metabolized in the liver) sleeping time. It seems, therefore, that 3-deoxy-HMT is a potent stimulant of the hepatic microsomal drug-metabolizing enzymes.