Smals A G, Weusten J J
Department of Medicine, University of Nijimegen, The Netherlands.
J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 1991;40(4-6):587-92. doi: 10.1016/0960-0760(91)90280-i.
Incubation of human testicular homogenates with [4-14C]pregnenolone gave substantial amounts of an unknown metabolite within 1 min, reaching plateau values of 17-23% of total radioactivity added within 5 min. Mass spectrometry of the metabolite showed it to be identical to the boar sex pheromone precursor androsta-5, 16-diene-3 beta-ol (ADL). In cell cultures the major source of ADL and its dehydrogenated metabolite androsta-4, 16-diene-3-one (ADN) was the Leydig cell. In rat and monkey testicular homogenates 16-ene-synthetase activity, a prerequisite for the synthesis of ADL and ADN, was completely lacking, limiting the presence of 16-androstenes to boars and men. In contrast to boars, however, in the human testis no 5 alpha-reductase activity was found and consequently no 5 alpha-reduced-16-androstenes, e.g. androstenol (AL, musk like) and androstenone (AN, urine like), known sex pheromones in pigs. As both sex pheromones have been identified in urine, plasma, sweat and saliva of men and (especially hirsute) women we hypothesize that AL and AN are synthesized from ADL via ADN peripherically in tissues rich in 5 alpha-reductase, i.e. skin, axillary sweat glands and probably also the salivary glands. So far, there is some evidence that both sex pheromones may have similar functions in humans as in boars.
用人睾丸匀浆与[4-¹⁴C]孕烯醇酮一起温育，1分钟内即可产生大量未知代谢产物，5分钟内达到所添加总放射性的17%-23%的平台值。该代谢产物的质谱分析表明，它与公猪性信息素前体雄甾-5,16-二烯-3β-醇（ADL）相同。在细胞培养中，ADL及其脱氢代谢产物雄甾-4,16-二烯-3-酮（ADN）的主要来源是睾丸间质细胞。在大鼠和猴的睾丸匀浆中，完全缺乏16-烯合成酶活性，而该活性是合成ADL和ADN的前提条件，这使得16-雄烯类化合物仅存在于公猪和人类中。然而，与公猪不同的是，在人类睾丸中未发现5α-还原酶活性，因此也未发现5α-还原的16-雄烯类化合物，例如雄烯醇（AL，类似麝香）和雄烯酮（AN，类似尿液），它们是猪已知的性信息素。由于在男性以及（尤其是多毛的）女性的尿液、血浆、汗液和唾液中均已鉴定出这两种性信息素，我们推测AL和AN是在富含5α-还原酶的外周组织（即皮肤、腋窝汗腺，可能还有唾液腺）中由ADL经ADN合成的。到目前为止，有一些证据表明这两种性信息素在人类中可能具有与公猪中类似的功能。
