Corticosterone, formation from progesteron

In the biosynthetic steps from progesterone to the adrenal cortical hormones are the very important 21-, lljS-, and 18-hydroxylations. The major pathway of synthesis is illustrated in Fig. 18. The properties of the enzyme, 17a-hydroxylase, which catalyzes the initial step in the formation of cortisol, have been described in a previous section, IV.B, of this manuscript. 21-Hydroxylation of progesterone or 17a-hydroxy-progesterone precedes 1 lj8-hydroxylation resulting in the eventual formation of the glucocorticoids, corticosterone, and cortisol respectively. The further conversion of corticosterone by 18-hydroxylation and sub-... 

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