Progesterone natural sources

In the 1930s research on the isolation of progesterone, a steroid and hormone, from natural sources led to synthetic pathways for their manufacture. Research led to the development of steroids used as contraceptives. Others were developed as anti-inflammatory steroids. Other steroids have been developed to treat breast cancer and another for prostate cancer. 

With the increasing interest in natural source antioxidants, such as tocopherols, and the use of both stigmasterol and (3-sitosterol as raw materials for the production of progesterone and esterone by the pharmaceutical industry, it is likely that deodorizer distillates will continue to be an important by-product for some vegetable oil processors. 

Apart from thalidomide, the steroid hormones have also been identified as teratogens. The use of male sex hormones as a treatment for breast cancer has resulted in the masculinization of a number of female fetuses when such treatment was commenced prior to the twelfth week of gestation. In addition, the accepted practice of using progesterone from natural sources for the treatment of miscarriage led to the widespread use of synthetic hormones between 1950 and 1960. The result was the birth of more than 600 female babies with equivocal or frankly masculinized external genitalia. It... 

Wild yam contains the compound diosgenin, commonly and mistakenly promoted as a natural source of progesterone. Diosgenin has been used as a precursor for the synthesis of progesterone, but the transformation required to form progesterone does not occur in the human body (Dentali 1996). 

In the isolation of steroids from natural sources one must, of course, consider their stability prior to enzyme inactivation, which usually occurs at the commencement of the isolation procedure, when the tissue is extracted with organic solvents. Kahnt and Neher (1965) could observe in bovine adrenal homogenates only trace amounts of 20a-hydroxycholesterol and (22R)-20,22-dihydroxy-cholesterol, as well as pregnenolone or progesterone (< figlgm). As stated earlier the absence of certain derivatives may be due to either their lack of formation or their rapid disappearance from the system. Until recently, primarily because of the lack of appropriate substrates of high specific activity, quantitative studies on the elucidation of the mechanism of the desmolase reaction could not be performed. The study of Ichii et al. (1967a) appears to entail the assumption of a steady state, for which no proof seems to have been provided. Also,... 

In the nonpregnant, postpubescent female, production of estrogen and progesterone is not tonic in nature but follows a pattern or cycle of events commonly referred to as the menstrual cycle. The menstrual cycle usually occurs over a 28-day period. The primary function of this cycle is to stimulate the ovaries to produce an ovum that is available for fertilization, while simultaneously preparing the endometrium of the uterus for implantation of the ovum, should fertilization occur. These events are illustrated in Figure 30-2. The cycle is characterized by several specific phases and events that are briefly outlined below. A more detailed description of the regulation of female reproduction can be found in several sources listed at the end of this chapter.33,88 94 113... 

Ox bile, which contains cholic acid as its principal constituent, provided one of the earliest mammalian sources of steroid raw materials for the commercial manufacture of the androgens. In nature, cholesterol itself is the mammalian precursor of the androgens, the biosynthesis passing through progesterone (XII). 

It will be noted that stigmasterol also represents a commercial route to progesterone. This abundant plant sterol that is readily available from soybean with its C22-C23 double bond, easily converts to progesterone in four steps and has therefore become a preferred substrate for various steroidal drugs. Cholesterol itself, which is the natural substrate for all mammalian steroid hormones, and is readily available from various sources (e.g., wool grease), is now also convertible to desirable steroid intermediates utilizing biotransforma-tion chemistry. The same is true of P-sitosterol (Chapter 11), which is another plant sterol available from soybean. 

---