THE EFFECT OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF TESTOSTERONE PROPIONATE ON THE URINARY EXCRETION OF COMPOUNDS ALLIED TO THE STEROID HORMONES

Abstract

Introduction The present investigation originated in a scheme of work on the therapeutic value of androgens in prostatic hypertrophy, undertaken under the auspices of the Therapeutic Trials Committee of the Medical Research Council. In co-operation with Dr. A. W. Greenwood of the Institute of Animal Genetics, and Dr. J. M. Robson of the Pharmacological Laboratory, University of Edinburgh, the androgen and oestrogen excretion of elderly men was investigated before, during, and after treatment with androgens, and a summary account of this work was given by one of us in a lecture [R. K. Callow, 1938]. Technical difficulties allowed the preparation of satisfactory extracts from only a few patients, and in these the changes in androgen or oestrogen excretion with moderate doses of androgen (up to 40 mg. of testosterone propionate per week by injection) were not statistically significant. Bühler [1933] and Kochakian [1937] reported small increases in the androgenic activity