The effects of a new progestational compound, dienogest (17 alpha-cyanomethyl-17 beta-hydroxy-estra-4,9-dien-3-one) on lipid metabolism have been studied in 84 otherwise healthy women with laparoscopically proven endometriosis. The women, aged 17 to 45, years were treated with 2 mg dienogest in tablet form daily for 24 weeks. The progestin was highly effective on endometriotic lesions and symptoms, showing an objective endoscopic and a subjective symptomatic improvement in 80% and 83% respectively. Triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and the LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio were determined before and after 1, 3 and 6 months use of the progestin. There was a maximum decrease of -5.8% in HDL-cholesterol and of -6.5% in triglycerides after 6 months of therapy vis-à-vis the pretreatment values. The maximum increase in LDL-cholesterol of +5.0% was recorded by the end of the first month of dienogest ingestion. The LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio rose from 1.6 to 1.8 during the course of therapy. There were no significant changes. The data suggest that 2 mg dienogest has little influence on lipid metabolism and provides also in this respect a suitable approach to the hormonal therapy of endometriosis.

This study investigates the diabetes-induced lesions in liver and kidney and in addition the possible side effects of the diabetogenic substance streptozotocin (SR) on these organs in non-diabetic animals. 5-week-old female Wistar rats were injected 65 or 130 mg SR/kg body mass. Some animals of the drug group did not become hyperglycemic; thus it was possible to separate the drug effect from the diabetic influence on liver and kidney. In serum investigations some metabolic changes concerning the activities of the liver enzymes aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and the concentrations of urea and creatinine up to 30 days after drug application were studied. SR in hyperglycemic animals causes a time and dose dependent rise in all investigated parameters. Also in normoglycemic rats a significant increase in alkaline phosphatase and in creatinine was observed after 10 days. After 21 and 30 days there were no differences compared to untreated control rats, whereas elevated levels were observed in the hyperglycemic rats. Thus our results support the view of a short damaging effect of SR on liver and kidney without inducing a diabetic state; in hyperglycemic rats the damaging effect is more pronounced.

The authors investigated in rats with dietarily-induced obesity certain biochemical parameters of the blood plasma as well as body and organ weights during the dynamic and the static phase of obesity development. They determined total cholesterol, total protein, albumin, creatinine, urea nitrogen and transaminases. After 4-5 weeks, the animals on a high-diet (50% of fat) had body weights which were, on an average, by 90% higher than those of the control animals. This difference persisted during the static phase. In the animals on a high-fat diet, body length was greater. The high-fat diet (which contains a great proportion of sunflower oil) leads to a decrease of the plasma cholesterol level in obese rats. The plasma-protein bodies, creatinine and urea nitrogen values as well as those for transaminases permit, as parameters for function and damage, to draw conclusions as to kidney and liver damages in the animals on high-fat diet. There were no differences in plasma protein between the control and experimental animals. On the contrary, obese rats showed in some cases high creatinine concentrations during the dynamic phase. Differences in urea nitrogen were not observed between the two groups of animals. Increases in alanine aminotransferase were found in the animals on high-fat diet as a manifestation of fatty degeneration of the liver. A synopsis of weight curves, biochemical parameters and histological findings permits the conclusion that, besides of dietarily-induced metabolic alterations, no additional organic lesions occurred during the present animal experiment on dietarily-induced obesity.

A prospective study was made to investigate the carbohydrate metabolic effects of the sequential-type oral contraceptive in form of a weekly pill with 0.6 mg ethinylestradiol-sulfonate soft gelatin capsules and 10 mg norethisterone acetate. Blood glucose and plasma insulin levels were measured during an intravenous glucose tolerance test in 17 nondiabetic healthy women. Each woman was tested before and after twelve months of drug use. There were no changes neither in average fasting blood glucose nor in glucose assimilation after intake of ethinylestradiol-sulfonate. At twelve months there were significant elevations of basal as well as reactive insulin levels.