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HISTOCHEMICAL DEMONSTRATION OF DRUG INTERFERENCE WITH PROGESTERONE SYNTHESIS

Autoradiography of some labelled steroid hormone precursors in mice has shown that these substances are localized to a great extent in sites of steroid hormone formation (Appelgren, 1967). Pregnenolone—the immediate precursor of progesterone—was specifically accumulated in the corpora lutea (Pl. 1, Fig. 1).

Some synthetic substances of diphenyl alkene character, F6060, bis-(p-hydroxyphenyl)cyclohexylidenemethane, (Ferrosan Ltd, Sweden), and its derivatives, F6066, F6103, have also been shown to concentrate in corpora lutea (Hanngren, Einer-Jensen & Ullberg, 1965a; Appelgren, Einer-Jensen & Ullberg, unpublished observations). It was postulated that these substances might interfere with the corpus luteum function, and perhaps with progesterone synthesis. When tested pharmacologically they were found to have antigestagenic properties (Hanngren, Einer-Jensen & Ullbert, 1965b; Einer-Jensen, 1968). It was later shown in vitro that F6066 reduced the synthesis of progesterone from pregnenolone by interference