Pregnenolone (medication)

Not to be confused with Pregnanolone or Pregneninolone.
This article is about pregnenolone as a medication and supplement. For its role as a hormone, see Pregnenolone.
Pregnenolone
Clinical data
Trade namesArthenolone, Bina-Skin, Enelone, Natolone, Pregneton, Prenolone, Regnosone, Sharmone, Skinostelon[1][2]
Other namesP5; 5-Pregnenolone; δ5-Pregnene-3β-ol-20-one; Pregn-5-en-3β-ol-20-one; NSC-1616
AHFS/Drugs.comInternational Drug Names
Routes of
administration		By mouth, transdermal
Drug classNeurosteroid; Anti-inflammatory
ATC code
  • None
Legal status
Legal status
Identifiers
  • 1-[(3S,8S,9S,10R,13S,14S,17S)-3-hydroxy-10,13-dimethyl-2,3,4,7,8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17-dodecahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-17-yl]ethanone
CAS Number
PubChem CID
IUPHAR/BPS
DrugBank
ChemSpider
UNII
KEGG
ChEBI
ChEMBL
Chemical and physical data
FormulaC21H32O2
Molar mass316.485 g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)
  • CC(=O)[C@H]1CC[C@@H]2[C@@]1(CC[C@H]3[C@H]2CC=C4[C@@]3(CC[C@@H](C4)O)C)C
  • InChI=1S/C21H32O2/c1-13(22)17-6-7-18-16-5-4-14-12-15(23)8-10-20(14,2)19(16)9-11-21(17,18)3/h4,15-19,23H,5-12H2,1-3H3/t15-,16-,17+,18-,19-,20-,21+/m0/s1 checkY
  • Key:ORNBQBCIOKFOEO-QGVNFLHTSA-N checkY
  (verify)

Pregnenolone, sold under the brand name Enelone among others, is a medication and supplement as well as a naturally occurring and endogenous steroid.[3][1][4][5][6] It is described as a neurosteroid and anti-inflammatory drug and was used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and soft-tissue rheumatism in the 1950s and is no longer prescribed today, but remains available as a supplement.[3][2][4] Pregnenolone can be taken by mouth, as a topical medication, or by injection into muscle.[3][2]

Pregnenolone is promoted online with false claims that it can treat a variety of health conditions including cancer, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.[7]

  1. ^ a b Elks J (14 November 2014). The Dictionary of Drugs: Chemical Data: Chemical Data, Structures and Bibliographies. Springer. pp. 665–. ISBN 978-1-4757-2085-3.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Gutman1955 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Henderson E, Weinberg M, Wright WA (April 1950). "Pregnenolone". The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 10 (4): 455–474. doi:10.1210/jcem-10-4-455. PMID 15415436.
  4. ^ a b Index Nominum 2000: International Drug Directory. Taylor & Francis. 2000. pp. 872–873. ISBN 978-3-88763-075-1.
  5. ^ Vallée M (June 2016). "Neurosteroids and potential therapeutics: Focus on pregnenolone". The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 160: 78–87. doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2015.09.030. PMID 26433186. S2CID 3468546.
  6. ^ Weng JH, Chung BC (July 2016). "Nongenomic actions of neurosteroid pregnenolone and its metabolites". Steroids. 111: 54–59. doi:10.1016/j.steroids.2016.01.017. PMID 26844377. S2CID 21839652.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference ACS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).