Corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex of vertebrates, as well as the synthetic analogues of these hormones. Two main classes of corticosteroids, glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids, are involved in a wide range of physiological processes, including stress response, immune response, and regulation of inflammation, carbohydrate metabolism, protein catabolism, blood electrolyte levels, and behavior.
Cortisone is a pregnane (21-carbon) steroid hormone. It is one of the main hormones released by the adrenal gland in response to stress. In chemical structure, it is a corticosteroid closely related to cortisol. It is used to treat a variety of ailments and can be administered intravenously, orally, intra-articularly, or transcutaneously. Cortisone suppresses the immune system, thus reducing inflammation and attendant pain and swelling at the site of the injury. Risks exist, in particular in the long-term use of cortisone.
Progestogens, also sometimes written progestagens or gestagens, are a class of steroid hormones that bind to and activate the progesterone receptor (PR). Progesterone is the major and most important progestogen in the body. The progestogens are named for their function in maintaining pregnancy, although they are also present at other phases of the estrous and menstrual cycles.
Percy Lavon Julian was a research chemist and a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants. He was the first to synthesize the natural product physostigmine, plus a pioneer in the industrial large-scale chemical synthesis of the human hormones progesterone and testosterone from plant sterols such as stigmasterol and sitosterol. His work laid the foundation for the steroid drug industry's production of cortisone, other corticosteroids, and birth control pills.
Cortisone acetate is a synthetic glucocorticoid corticosteroid and corticosteroid ester which is marketed in many countries throughout the world, including in the United States, the United Kingdom, and various other European countries. It is the C21 acetate ester of cortisone, and acts as a prodrug of cortisone in the body.
In the field of molecular biology, the pregnane X receptor (PXR), also known as the steroid and xenobiotic sensing nuclear receptor (SXR) or nuclear receptor subfamily 1, group I, member 2 (NR1I2) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NR1I2 gene.
Medroxyprogesterone (MP), is a progestin which is not used medically. A derivative, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), is used as a medication in humans, and is far more widely known in comparison. Medroxyprogesterone is sometimes used as a synonym for medroxyprogesterone acetate, and what is almost always being referred to when the term is used is MPA and not medroxyprogesterone.
Lewis Hastings Sarett was an American organic chemist. While serving as a research scientist at Merck & Co., Inc., synthesized cortisone.
Metacycline is a tetracycline antibiotic. It is used as a precursor in the industrial synthesis of doxycycline hyclate.
Fluprednisolone is a pregnane. It is a corticosteroid.
5β-Reductase, or Δ4-3-oxosteroid 5β-reductase (EC 1.3.1.3, 3-oxo-Δ4-steroid 5β-reductase, androstenedione 5β-reductase, cholestenone 5β-reductase, cortisone 5β-reductase, cortisone Δ4-5β-reductase, steroid 5β-reductase, testosterone 5β-reductase, Δ4-3-ketosteroid 5β-reductase, Δ4-5β-reductase, Δ4-hydrogenase, 4,5β-dihydrocortisone:NADP+ Δ4-oxidoreductase, 3-oxo-5β-steroid:NADP+ Δ4-oxidoreductase) is an enzyme with systematic name 5β-cholestan-3-one:NADP+ 4,5-oxidoreductase. This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction
Pregnanedione, or pregnane-3,20-dione, may refer to:
Dimepregnen, or 6α,16α-dimethylpregn-4-en-3β-ol-20-one, is a pregnene steroid described as an antiestrogen that was synthesized in 1968 and was never marketed. It is similar in structure to the progestins and progesterone derivatives melengestrol and anagestone.
Allopregnanediol, or 5α-pregnane-3α,20α-diol, is an endogenous metabolite of progesterone and allopregnanolone and an isomer of pregnanediol (5β-pregnan-3α,20α-diol). It has been found to act like a partial agonist of an allosteric site of the GABA receptor and hence might play a biological role as a neurosteroid. It has also been found to act as an agonist of the human pregnane X receptor, albeit with an EC50 that is more than an order of magnitude lower than that of other endogenous pregnanes like pregnenolone, pregnanediol, allopregnanedione, and allopregnanolone.
Prebediolone acetate, also known as 21-hydroxypregnenolone 21-acetate or 21-acetoxypregnenolone (A.O.P.), as well as 3β,21-dihydroxypregn-5-en-20-one 21-acetate, is a synthetic pregnane steroid which is described as a glucocorticoid and has been used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. It is the C21 acetate ester of prebediolone (21-hydroxypregnenolone), the C21 hydroxylated derivative of pregnenolone. Prebediolone acetate has been known since at least 1950. The compound is also an intermediate in a synthesis of deoxycorticosterone acetate (21-acetoxyprogesterone).
11-Ketoprogesterone, or 11-oxoprogesterone, also known as pregn-4-ene-3,11,20-trione, is a pregnane steroid related to cortisone (11-keto-17α,21-dihydroxyprogesterone) that was formerly used in veterinary medicine in the treatment of bovine ketosis. It was synthesized in 1940. The steroid has profound effects on carbohydrate metabolism and possesses activities associated with adrenal cortex hormones like cortisone. However, it is non-toxic even in high dosages, suggesting that it lacks conventional glucocorticoid activity, and it does not possess mineralocorticoid activity, unlike other adrenocortical hormones. 11-Ketoprogesterone may act through membrane glucocorticoid receptors.
Pregnanediol glucuronide, or 5β-pregnane-3α,20α-diol 3α-glucuronide, is the major metabolite of progesterone and the C3α glucuronide conjugate of pregnanediol (5β-pregnane-3α,20α-diol). Approximately 15 to 30% of a parenteral dose of progesterone is metabolized into pregnanediol glucuronide. While this specific isomer is referred to as pregnanediol glucuronide and is the most major form, there are actually many possible isomers of the metabolite.
20β-Dihydroprogesterone (20β-DHP), also known as 20β-hydroxyprogesterone (20β-OHP), is an endogenous metabolite of progesterone which is formed by 20β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. It is a progestogen similarly to progesterone, with about one-fifth of the progestogenic activity of progesterone.
5β-Pregnane, also known as 17β-ethyletiocholane or as 10β,13β-dimethyl-17β-ethyl-5β-gonane, is a steroid and a parent compound of a variety of steroid derivatives. It is one of the epimers of pregnane, the other being 5α-pregnane. Derivatives of 5β-pregnane include the naturally occurring steroids 5β-dihydroprogesterone, pregnanolone, epipregnanolone, pregnanediol, and pregnanetriol, and the synthetic steroids hydroxydione, renanolone, ORG-20599, and SAGE-217. These derivatives include metabolites of progesterone and endogenous and synthetic neurosteroids.
