Androstenedione-mediated inhibition of 11 beta-hydroxylation in monolayer cell cultures of fetal calf adrenals.

The possibility that the formation of androstenedione by fetal calf adrenal cells in culture is linked to their decreased ability to form cortisol and corticosterone was investigated. Fetal calf adrenal cells metabolise radioactive adrostenedione to two major products which coelute on thin layer chromatography with 11 beta-hydroxyandrostenedione and 11 beta-hydroxytestosterone. When the cells are incubated with 11-deoxycortisol or 11-deoxycorticosterone in the presence of androstenedione there is a dose dependant inhibition of cortisol and corticosterone formation. Further studies with progesterone showed an accumulation of 11-deoxycortisol and 11-deoxycorticosterone in cells incubated simultaneously with androstenedione. The results demonstrate that exogenous androstenedione can have dramatic effects on steroidogenesis in the fetal calf adrenal and suggest that the accumulation of androstenedione in the medium of cultured andrenocortical cells is responsible, at least in part, for the decreased formation of cortisol and corticosterone.