Steroids excreted by human skin. II. C19-steroid sulphates in human axillary sweat.

Beside dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate and androsterone sulphate, 5-androstene-3 beta, 17 beta-diol-3-sulphate and testosterone sulphate were isolated and identified from the axillary sweat of sexually mature women and men. The quantities of these four C19-steroid sulphates were determined individually in the sweat of eight healthy, sexually mature women and men: dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate was found in the highest amount, it was followed by 5-androstene-3 beta, 17 beta-diol-3-sulphate and androsterone sulphate. Testosterone sulphate occurred in the lowest quantity, its excretion amounting to about one-thousandth of that of dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate. Study of the C19-steroid sulphates excreted by the apocrine sweat glands permitted an insight into the steroid metabolism in human skin, which presumably is, closely connected with the steroid hormones of peripheral blood.