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In vitro Synthesis of Progesterone

Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts

Abstract

Conclusion: In the foregoing pages, I have attempted to focus attention on a number of specific problems of interest to students of reproductive biology, toward the solution of which, in vitro methods have been applied. Some of the advantages as well as some of the limitations of such approaches have been discussed, and I have tried to emphasize the importance of interpreting with caution, the results of strictly in vitro experiments, until some degree of confirmation can be obtained in vivo. Nevertheless, there are certain types of questions such as those concerning the characteristics of specific enzymic steps in steroid biosynthesis, and those concerning molecular mechanisms of action of gonadotropic hormones, which are considerably more amenable to in vitro than to in vivo experimentation. The mechanisms by which LH stimulates progesterone synthesis have been investigated extensively, and profitably by in vitro methods in a number of laboratories. Exciting as the outcome of these experiments has been, it should be emphasized that the physiologic significance of the effect of LH remains very uncertain.