Estradiol enantate
Estradiol enantate, sold under the brand names Perlutal and Topasel among others, is an estrogen medication which is used in hormonal birth control. It is formulated in combination with dihydroxyprogesterone acetophenide (DHPA; algestone acetophenide), a progestin, and is used as a combined injectable contraceptive. Estradiol enantate is not available alone. The medication is given by injection into muscle once a month.
Side effects of estradiol enantate include breast tenderness, breast enlargement, nausea, headache, and fluid retention. The drug is a synthetic estrogen and hence is an agonist of the estrogen receptor (ER), the biological target of estrogens like estradiol. Estradiol enantate is an estrogen ester and a long-lasting prodrug of estradiol in the body. Because of this, it is considered to be a natural and bioidentical form of estrogen.
Estradiol enantate was first described by 1954, and was first studied in combination with DHPA as a combined injectable contraceptive in 1964. The combination was introduced for clinical use by the mid-1970s. Estradiol enantate is not available as a standalone medication (i.e., by itself without DHPA). The combination is available in Latin America and Hong Kong, and was also previously marketed in Spain and Portugal.
Estrone (medication)
Estrone is an estrogen, specifically an agonist of the estrogen receptors ERα and ERβ. It is a far less potent estrogen than is estradiol, and as such is a relatively weak estrogen. Given by subcutaneous injection in mice, estradiol is about 10-fold more potent than estrone and about 100-fold more potent than estriol. According to one study, the relative binding affinities of estrone for the human ERα and ERβ were 4.0% and 3.5% of those estradiol, respectively, and the relative transactivational capacities of estrone at the ERα and ERβ were 2.6% and 4.3% of those of estradiol, respectively. In accordance, the estrogenic activity of estrone has been reported to be approximately 4% of that of estradiol. Because estrone can be transformed into estradiol, which is far more potent as an estrogen in comparison, most of the estrogenic potency of estrone "in vivo" is actually due to conversion into estradiol. As such, similarly to the case of estrone sulfate, estrone is considered to be a prodrug of estradiol. Some "in vitro" research has suggested that estrone might be able to partially antagonize the actions of estradiol, but this does not appear to be of clinical significance.