[Effect of ACTH on the transformation of progesterone by the adrenal glands of human fetuses in vitro].

Abstract

It was shown in vitro that ACTH influenced the progesterone transformation increasing corticosterone production only in those fetuses whose adrenal glands, in the absence of ACTH, transformed progesterone chiefly into hydrocortisone (8--12-week fetuses). But exogenous ACTH failed to influence such transformation of progesterone in 17--24-week fetuses in which the adrenal glands, in the absence of ACTH preparation, produced an equal amount of hydrocortisone and corticosterone. The results obtained and also the data on ACTH content in the hypophysis and the blood of human fetuses at various periods of prenatal development indicated that the changes in progesterone transformation occurring with the advance of fetal age was caused by endogenous ACTH.