19-Nor-deoxycorticosterone metabolism by rat adrenal glands: evidence for the formation of 19-nor-corticosterone and 19-nor-18-hydroxydeoxycorticosterone.

Incubation of rat adrenal homogenates with tritiated and unlabeled 19-nor-deoxycorticosterone yielded, in addition to unconverted starting substrate, two major radioactive conversion products. These two products were purified by TLC and HPLC and subjected to mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. The interpretation of the spectra was consistent with the structures to be 19-nor-corticosterone and 19-nor-18-hydroxydeoxycorticosterone. The possible biological significance of these two compounds is discussed.