Progestogen Ester
A progestogen ester is an ester of a progestogen or progestin (a synthetic progestogen). The prototypical progestogen is progesterone, an endogenous sex hormone. Esterification is frequently employed to improve the pharmacokinetics of steroids, including oral bioavailability, lipophilicity, and elimination half-life. In addition, with intramuscular injection, steroid esters are often absorbed more slowly into the body, allowing for less frequent administration. Many (though not all) steroid esters function as prodrugs. Esterification is particularly salient in the case of progesterone because progesterone itself shows very poor oral pharmacokinetics and is thus ineffective when taken orally. Unmodified, it has an elimination half-life of only 5 minutes, and is almost completely inactivated by the liver during first-pass metabolism. Micronization, however, has allowed for progesterone to be effective orally, although oral micronized progesterone was not developed until recent ...
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Progesterone
Progesterone (P4) is an endogenous steroid and progestogen sex hormone involved in the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and embryogenesis of humans and other species. It belongs to a group of steroid hormones called the progestogens and is the major progestogen in the body. Progesterone has a variety of important functions in the body. It is also a crucial metabolic intermediate in the