Cacl2 2 h2o

Na₂HPO₄ and CaCl₂ • 2 H₂O were purchased from Riedel de Haen (Seelze, Germany). KH₂PO₄, CuSO₄ • 5 H₂O, H₃BO₃, potassium hydrogen phthalate, Na₂SO₄, nicotinic acid, MnSO₄ • H₂O, and KI were from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany). ZnSO₄ • 7 H₂O was purchased from Acros (Geel, Belgium). Tris, agar, NH₄HCO₃, NH₄Cl, FeCl₃ • 6 H₂O, MgCl₂ • 6 H₂O, glucose, Triton-X100, and biotin were from Roth (Karlsruhe, Germany). Inositol was from Th.Geyer (Berlin, Germany), and MoO₄ • 2 H₂O was purchased from Alfa Aesar (Kandel, Germany). Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) was obtained from Steraloids (Newport, RI, United States). 4HP, ATP, and citric acid were purchased from Sigma Aldrich (Steinheim, Germany). 7-Hydroxycoumarin (7HC) and formic acid were purchased from TCI (Zwijindrecht, Belgium). ³⁴S labelled (NH₄)₂SO₄ and D₉-Salbutamol (D₉-SA) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Taufkirchen, Germany), D₆-DHEA was obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (Saint Louis, MO, United States). Acetonitrile was from Fischer Scientific (Geel, Belgium), and HCOONH₄ was from VWR Chemicals (Damstadt, Germany). Ultrapure water was prepared with a Milli-Q water purification system LaboStar 2-DI/UV from SG Wasseraufbereitung und Regenerierstation GmbH (Barsbüttel, Germany). All other chemicals and reagents used were also of the highest grade available.

Soybean cooking oil was purchased from Hamza vegetable oil refinery and ghee mills (Pvt.) Ltd, Lahore-Pakistan. All the chemicals used in this study were of analytical grade. KH₂PO₄, K₂HPO₄, FeSO_4·7H₂O, chloroform, methanol and acetone were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich^®. CaCl_2·2H₂O and MgSO_4·7H₂O were purchased from Riedel-de Haen^®, and NaNO₃ from Merck^®. Petroleum ether was supplied by Fisher^® chemicals.