Spirolactone

Spirolactones, also known as steroid-17α-spirolactones, 17α-spirolactosteroids, or simply as 17α-spirolactones, are a group of steroidal compounds which are both spiro compounds and lactones and which feature these two structural properties combined in the form of a spirolactone ring at the 17α position. They are antimineralocorticoids, or antagonists of the mineralocorticoid receptor (which is activated predominantly by the mineralocorticoid steroid hormone aldosterone), and have been employed clinically as potassium-sparing diuretics. Some also possess progestogenic, antigonadotropic, and/or antiandrogen properties, which have both contributed to side effects and been utilized for medical indications (e.g., spironolactone as an antiandrogen, and drospirenone as a progestin). The spirolactones were developed by G. D. Searle & Company in the 1950s and thereafter and were denoted as "SC" compounds (e.g., SC-9420 for spironolactone).