Is mevalonic acid a precursor of the corticosteroids?

The Biosynthesis of Squalene, Lanosterol, and Cholesterol by Minced Human Placenta*

“…In slices of bovine ovaries, Hellig and Savard (1965) showed that the incorporation of acetate into progesterone was greater than the incorporation of mevalonate into progesterone. Using adrenal homogenates, Bryson and Sweat (1962) could demonstrate the conversion of acetate-l-14C but not mevalonate-2-14C into steroids. However, Biiliar et al (1965) were subsequently able to demonstrate the conversion of mevalonate-5-3H into steroids in adrenal slices.…”

“…The utilization of mevalonate as a precursor of steroids has been tested in several preparations of steroidogenic tissues. The conversion of mevalonate to steroids has been demonstrated in homogenates of testicular tissue (Rabinowitz, 1959), but other investigators have been unable to demonstrate the synthesis of steroids from mevalonate in testicular slices (Savard et al, 1960) or in homogenates of normal adrenals (Bryson and Sweat, 1962), of an adrenal adenoma (Villee et al, 1962), or of fetal adrenals (Villee et al, 1961).…”

The Biosynthesis of Adrenocortical Steroids

“…When it became known that mevalonic acid (MVA) is a key intermediate in cholesterol synthesis in yeast and liver, it was of interest to find if this substance was also an obligatory intermediate in the production of steroid hormones. Bryson & Sweat (1962) in fact failed to observe its incorporation into adrenal steroids under conditions in which acetate was actively incorporated. They used an ox adrenal homogenate preparation centrifuged to leave only the microsomal and supernatant fraction.…”

Terpene Metabolism in the Rat Testis. II. Metabolism of Mevalonic Acid by Cell-free Preparations*

“…If the 700 X g T A he cells of endocrine tissues which form steroid hormones readily use acetate in hormone synthesis. Yet, while there has been some success in converting mevalonic acid to sterols and steroids with preparations of these tissues (Rabinowitz, 1959;Tsai et al, 1964;Billiar et al, 1965), the extent of this conversion has been relatively low and, coupled with the failure of others (Bryson and Sweat, 1962;Savard et al, 1960), has raised the question of possible alternate routes of biosynthesis of steroids in endocrine tissues. In a previous paper we demonstrated the conversion of a metabolite of mevalonic acid, isopen tenyl pyrophosphate, to squalene and sterols by homogenates of rat testis (Salokangas et al, 1964), but at that time we were unable to obtain conversion of mevalonic acid to squalene.…”