Letters to the Editor: SPECIES SPECIFICITY OF STEROID-INDUCED FEVER

Abstract

Certain steroid metabolites of the 5/3-H type (pregnane and etiocholane) derived from adrenocortical and gonadal hormones provoke intense fever when injected into man. These endogenous pyrogenic steroids include 19 and 21 carbon compounds of the 11-desoxy and 11-oxygenated series such as 3[alpha]-hydroxyetiocholan-17-one, ll[beta]-dihydroxyetiocholan-17-one, 3[alpha]-hydroxypregnan-20-one, pregnane-3[alpha], 20[alpha]-diol and 3[alpha]-hydroxypregnan-11, 20-dione. Injection of the latter steroid pyrogen in doses up to 25 times those provoking consistent and intense fever in man, did not provoke significant temperature elevation in cats, dogs, rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits and monkeys. These results indicate an apparent high degree of species specificity of fever production by steroid hormone metabolites. The physiologic basis of this species specificity is not known but the phenomenon is of intrinsic biologic interest and may imply the special significance of these or structurally related compounds to thermogenic processes in man.