Determination of Urinary Estrogens (in collaboration with Sati C. Chattoraj)

Abstract

The estrogens constitute a group of hormones, which with other hormones, take part in the development and maintenance of the female sex organs and the maintenance of the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. In the female the organs of origin are the ovary, placenta, and the adrenal cortex, and in the male the testes and adrenal cortex. Chemically, they are steroids having 18 or 19 carbon atoms, an aromatic A-ring and an hydroxyl group at C-3, imparting to them phenolic properties. Until 1955, only three classical estrogens—estrone, estradiol, and estriol—had been identified from human sources. Since then a dozen or more estrogens have been isolated and identified [1] (Figure 18–1). The clinical importance of the estimation of these hormones lies in the fact that these steroid hormones are known to be related to abnormal pregnancies, gynecological disorders, and some neoplasias. While an understanding of the relationship of the estrogens to such abnormal conditions requires the assessment of secretory and excretory rates of the hormones, methodological deficiencies (among others) for their evaluation has kept the exact nature of their function a mystery.