In recent years the pathways of steroid hormone biosynthesis have received a great deal of attention. An increasing amount of evidence for the concept of a general pathway of steroid hormone bio-synthesis in all steroidogenic endocrine tissues has accumulated from the published results of studies in various tissues of a number of species. The object of the present study was to investigate the steroidogenic capacity of two types of pathological tissue, namely, ovaries from women with the Stein-Levanthal syndrome and a feminising adrenal tumour from a 39-year-old man.