Epiandrosterone

Epiandrosterone
Skeletal formula of epiandrosterone
Ball-and-stick model of the epiandrosterone molecule
Clinical data
ATC code
  • none
Identifiers
  • (3S,5S,8R,9S,10S,13S,14S)-3-hydroxy-10,13-dimethyl-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,
CAS Number
PubChem CID
ChemSpider
UNII
ChEBI
ChEMBL
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)
ECHA InfoCard 100.006.877
Chemical and physical data
Formula C19H30O2
Molar mass 290.447 g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)
  • O=C2[C@]1(CC[C@H]3[C@H]([C@@H]1CC2)CC[C@H]4C[C@@H](O)CC[C@]34C)C
  • InChI=1S/C19H30O2/c1-18-9-7-13(20)11-12(18)3-4-14-15-5-6-17(21)19(15,2)10-8-16(14)18/h12-16,20H,3-11H2,1-2H3/t12-,13-,14-,15-,16-,18-,19-/m0/s1 check
  • Key:QGXBDMJGAMFCBF-LUJOEAJASA-N check
  (verify)

Epiandrosterone, or isoandrosterone, also known as 3β-androsterone, 3β-hydroxy-5α-androstan-17-one, or 5α-androstan-3β-ol-17-one, is a steroid hormone with weak androgenic activity. It is a metabolite of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT). It was first isolated in 1931, by Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt and Kurt Tscherning. They distilled over 17,000 litres of male urine, from which they got 50 milligrams of crystalline androsterone (most likely mixed isomers), which was sufficient to find that the chemical formula was very similar to estrone.

Epiandrosterone has been shown to naturally occur in most mammals including pigs.

Epiandrosterone is naturally produced by the enzyme 5α-reductase from the adrenal hormone DHEA. Epiandrosterone can also be produced from the natural steroids androstanediol via 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase or from androstanedione via 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase.

See also