title: Cholesterol side-chain cleavage activity in the human umbilical cord in vitro.
abstract: With a view to establish whether cells of the human umbilical cord possess cholesterol side-chain cleavage activity, homogenates of term umbilical cord obtained following spontaneous vaginal delivery from uncomplicated pregnancies (n = 6; 38-40 weeks gestation) were incubated with 26-14C cholesterol. Controls were homogenates heating in a boiling water bath for 10 min. Proof of the existence of cholesterol C-20, 22-desmolase activity in the viable tissue was established by associating radioactivity due to the labelled carbon 26 of 26-14C cholesterol with the p-bromophenacyl ester of isocaproic acid by reverse-isotope dilution analysis. The desmolase efficiency expressed as specific activity of 14C isocaproic acid, dpm g-1 tissue varied from 110 to 351 with a mean of 202. The small but definite conversion indicates that the cholesterol side-chain cleavage reaction previously believed to be exclusive to the steroidogenic pathway operating in the adrenal, gonads and placenta does exist in the human term umbilical cord in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Science and Forensic Medicine, National Blood Centre, Singapore.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gunasegaram
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Peh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loganath
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Chew
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shanmugaratnam
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002208:Caproates / Q000378:metabolism; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000378:metabolism*; D002786:Cholesterol Side-Chain Cleavage Enzyme / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011284:Pregnenolone / Q000096:biosynthesis; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002208:Caproates; C034527:isocaproic acid; D011284:Pregnenolone; D002784:Cholesterol; D002786:Cholesterol Side-Chain Cleavage Enzyme