Distribution patterns of in vivo conversion products of injected estradiol-17β-4-14C and estrone-4-14C in the urines of the nonlaying and laying hen

Estradiol-17β-4-14C was injected into a mature hen when it was not in lay and when it was in lay. In each instance the major radioactive conversion products in the urine were estrone and estradiol-17α. The percentage of the total radioactive phenolic steroids present in the urine as estradiol-17β was higher, and the percentages present as estradiol-17α and as estrone were lower when the hen was not in lay than when the hen was in lay. Estrone-4-14C was injected into a mature hen in a second similar experiment, and the major radioactive conversion products in the urine were estradiol-17β and estradiol-17α. As in the first experiment, the percentage of the total radioactive phenolic steroids present in the urine as estradiol-17β was higher and the percentages present as estradiol-17α and as estrone were lower when the hen was not in lay than when she was in lay.Irrespective of whether estrone-4-14C or estradiol-17β-4-14C were injected, the major radioactive phenolic steroids in the urine were estradiol-17β, estrone, and estradiol-17α, in that order, when the hen was not in lay, and estrone and estradiol-17β or estradiol-17α, in that order, when the hen was in lay.