Cortisone vs Cortisol: what is the difference?

How they differ

Cortisone and cortisol differ by two hydrogen atoms, C21H28O5 at 360.4 against C21H30O5 at 362.5, at a single carbon where cortisol carries a hydroxyl group and cortisone a ketone. That one change switches the hormone off: cortisone does nothing at the receptor until an enzyme in the liver and in fat turns it back into cortisol. The body runs the conversion both ways, and the kidney turns cortisol into cortisone to keep it off the kidney's own salt-balance receptors. Cortisone was the first steroid medicine, and its effect on rheumatoid arthritis won the 1950 Nobel Prize in medicine; cortisol is now used directly, as hydrocortisone.

Side by side

Structural similarity 0.68 of 1, computed as a Morgan fingerprint Tanimoto coefficient. It measures shape, not effect.

Common questions

What is the difference between Cortisone and Cortisol?

Cortisone and cortisol differ by two hydrogen atoms, C21H28O5 at 360.4 against C21H30O5 at 362.5, at a single carbon where cortisol carries a hydroxyl group and cortisone a ketone. That one change switches the hormone off: cortisone does nothing at the receptor until an enzyme in the liver and in fat turns it back into cortisol. The body runs the conversion both ways, and the kidney turns cortisol into cortisone to keep it off the kidney's own salt-balance receptors.

Is Cortisone bigger than Cortisol?

Cortisol is the heavier molecule, 362.5 g/mol against 360.4 g/mol for Cortisone. Cortisone is C21H28O5 and Cortisol is C21H30O5.