5a-Pregnanediol (male)

Optimal Result: 9 - 50 ng/mg Creat/Day.

Metabolites of progesterone are measured in urine, including 5b-pregnanediol and 5a-pregnanediol. 5b-pregnanediol is inactive in the body but is the major metabolite of progesterone. 5a-pregnanediol is often a metabolite of more interest, as it can cross the blood brain barrier and up-regulate GABA activity and is considered neuroprotective to the brain. Both taken together represent the major metabolic end points for progesterone and can be used to represent total progesterone production.

Progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum following ovulation and to a lesser extent by the adrenal glands in both sexes. While found in the urine in small amounts, progesterone can be seen as a clinical marker of luteul activity and theraputic oral progesterone administration. The most important progesterone metabolite, pregnanediol (PDL), can serve as a urinary marker for endogenous progesterone levels and as an indicator of ovulation. PDL exists as two isomers, 5a-pregnanediol and 5b-pregnanediol. 5b-pregnanediol represents the majority end point of endogenous progesterone metabolism and appears to have little activity within the body, while 5α-pregnanediol, the lesser metabolite of PDL, can cross the blood brain barrier and may partially agonize GABA-A receptors. This action is possibly due to its role as an immediate precursor to allopregnanolone. Allopregnanolone is a potent neuroactive steroid capable of binding the GABA-A receptor often leading to sedative and anxiolytic action. The calming action of allopregnanolone is often seen with orally supplemented progesterone, as the liver metabolizes a large portion of oral progesterone to the neuroactive steroid allopregnanolone.

What does it mean if your 5a-Pregnanediol (male) result is too low?

Lower levels of pregnanediol may be due to decreased progesterone or 5-alpha reductase activity.

What does it mean if your 5a-Pregnanediol (male) result is too high?

If just one of the metabolites is high, his total progesterone in serum may be normal, or the patient could have a metabolic preference pushing the bulk of his metabolites one direction.

5a-reductase makes the a-pregnanediol metabolite and can be higher with inflammation, insulin resistance or obesity. Not much is known about the 5b-reductase enzyme, which makes b-pregnanediol.

Progesterone in men is positively associated with inflammation and tends to rise in response to higher testosterone production, high stress, and high cortisol.

High progesterone in men is also seen with liver issues.

→ Working on the root cause is the best approach.

If oral progesterone OR pregnenolone supplementation are used, please be aware these will increase progesterone metabolites in the urine due to first pass metabolism, but serum progesterone may not be elevated to the same degree as the urine implies.

5A-PD is a minor urinary metabolite of progesterone. Increased levels may be due to high levels of progesterone or pregnenolone, progesterone supplementation, or adrenocorticohyperplasia. 5A-PD may agonize GABA-A receptors.

10 000+ happy customers
100% satisfaction
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ customer support

Understand blood, stool, and urine medical results from all your laboratories.

Upload Your Personal Results

Upload Personal Results

For professional account plans go here

for professional account plans go here

Monthly plan

Annual plan

Own it for life

  • Subscription
  • Data entry service included

    Data entry service

    Our exclusive data entry service is a convenient way to get your results into your private dashboard. Simply attach an image or a file of your lab test results, and one of our qualified data entry team members will add the results for you. We support all sorts of files, whether PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is excellent whether you have a lot of reports to upload or are too busy to do the data entry yourself.

  • Instant interpretation
  • Use free data entry form

    Free data entry form

    We strive to make the data entry process easy for you. Whether by offering dozens of templates to choose from that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels or by giving you instant feedback on the entered values. Our data entry forms are an easy, fast, and convenient way to enter the reports yourself. There is no limit on how many lab reports you can upload.

  • 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • Nutrition recommendations
  • Cancel anytime

Complete

$15 /month

billed every month

  • monthly
  • $15 per report
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ Free data entry form
  • ✓ Unlimited data
  • ✓ $15 data entry service
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

Most popular

Data entry included

Advanced

$79 /year

$6.60/month billed annually

  • yearly
  • 5 reports free
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ We enter 5 reports for you
  • ✓ Yearly subscription
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

Data entry included

Unlimited

$250 /once

own it for life

  • pay once
  • 10 reports free
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ We enter 10 reports for you
  • ✓ No subscription
  • ✓ Dedicated support
  • ✓ Unlimited access

Are You a Health Professional?

Get started with our professional plan

Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.

Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place. Learn more

Pro Monthly Plus

for health professionals

  • ✓ Track multiple clients results
  • ✓ No setup fees
  • ✓ No hidden costs
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Includes data entry service
  • ✓ Personal training and support
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

$75 per month

Use promo code to save 10% off any plan.


We implement proven measures to keep your data safe.

At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.