title: Separation of the major adrenal steroids by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.
abstract: The major adrenal steroids were separated by multistep gradient elution with a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography system, employing water and 1-propanol as solvents. With this solvent system, a wide range of 21 5-ene-3 beta-ol and 4-ene-3-one steroids can be resolved in a single chromatogram, which was not possible with previously published gradient solvent systems. In particular, intermediate steroids of the biosynthetic pathway, 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, 17 alpha-hydroxypregnenolone, and dehydroepiandrosterone, were separated with baseline or sufficient resolution to allow accurate quantitation. Using the 1-propanol-water gradient, the separations of 5-ene and 4-ene steroids were compared on different octadecylsilyl packings. Optimum resolution was obtained with a fully covered, spherical particle. The 1-propanol-water gradient was compared to a previously published methanol-water gradient in the analysis of steroidogenesis by adrenocortical cell cultures. HPLC analysis of the steroid production was quantitatively the same with both gradient solvent systems. However, qualitatively, the methanol-water gradient system did not resolve the above-mentioned intermediate steroids.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Capp
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Simonian
mesh_terms: D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000032:analysis*; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000494:pharmacology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D013256:Steroids / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D013256:Steroids; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone