<unk> is a neurosteroid. It is a negative allosteric modulator of the CB1 receptor, a ligand of the microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2), and an agonist of the pregnane X receptor.<unk> has no progestogenic, corticosteroid, estrogenic, androgenic, or antiandrogenic activity. In addition to its own activities,<unk> is a precursor for other neurosteroids such as<unk> sulfate, allopregnanolone, and<unk> and for steroid hormones.<unk> has low bioavailability and is subject to high metabolism. Oral administration of 50 or 100 mg<unk> has been found to have minimal or negligible effect on urinary levels of testosterone and testosterone metabolites, including of androsterone, etiocholanolone, 5β-androstanediol, androstadienol, and androstenol (and/or their conjugates), and this suggests that only a small amount of<unk> is converted into testosterone. This is in accordance with findings on the conversion of DHEA into testosterone, in which only 1.5% of an oral dose of DHEA was found to be converted into testosterone. In contrast to the androstanes, 50 or 100 mg oral<unk> has been found to significantly and in fact "strongly" increase urinary levels of the progesterone metabolites pregnanediol and<unk> (and/or their conjugates), whereas pregnanetriol was unaffected. Unlike the case of oral administration, transdermal administration of 30 mg/day<unk> cream has not been found to affect urinary levels of metabolites of any other steroids, including of progesterone. Intranasal administration of<unk> was found to have low bioavailability of around 23%. Sripada et al. reported that oral<unk> is preferentially metabolized into the neurosteroid allopregnanolone rather than into other steroids such as DHEA or cortisol. In further research by their group, a single 400 mg dose of oral<unk> at 3 hours post-administration was found to result in a 3-fold elevation in serum levels of<unk> and a 7-fold increase in allopregnanolone levels.<unk> levels increased by approximately 60% while DHEA levels decreased non-significantly by approximately 5% and cortisol levels were not affected. Another study found that allopregnanolone levels were increased by 3-fold at 2 hours post-administration following a single 400 mg oral dose of<unk>  In addition to allopregnanolone,<unk> acts as a prodrug of<unk> sulfate. However,<unk> sulfate does not cross the blood–brain barrier.
Pregnenolone 
Metenolone acetate
Algestone acetonide
Vinyltestosterone
Desoxymethyltestosterone
Methandriol propionate
Ethinylestradiol sulfonate
Gestodene