[Studies of the corticosteroid hormones in the nematode, Ascaris suum].

Four steroids from tissues of Ascaris suum were isolated and identified by means of the thin-layer chromatography and fluorimetric methods as corticosterone, cortisol, alodosterone and dehydrocorticosterone. Corticosterone, cortisol and alodosterone are corticosteroid hormones while dehydrocorticosterone is a product of a metabolic transformation of corticosterone. It seems likely that the presence of corticosteroid hormones in tissues of A. suum is indicative of their participation in the metabolism of the latter.