PITUITARY RESPONSIVENESS TO SYNTHETIC LUTEINIZING HORMONE RELEASING HORMONE (LH‐RH) DURING THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE AND IN FEMALE HYPOGONADISM

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Abstract
Summary: The pituitary responsiveness to synthetic luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LH‐RH) in female patients with primary and secondary hypogonadism was tested and compared with that in normal women with regular menstrual cycles. A 200 μg dose of synthetic LH‐RH was injected intravenously into 15 normal menstruating women, 8 patients with primary hypogonadism and 5 patients with secondary hypogonadism and the serum luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) response to LH‐RH was investigated using double‐antibody radioimmunoassay. In normal women, the LH response to LH‐RH in the pre‐ovulatory phase was greater than that seen in the follicular (p<0.05) and luteal phases (p<0.05) of the menstrual cycle. In contrast, no significant difference in the FSH response was demonstrated among the three different phases of the cycle. The serum LH response to LH‐RH in primary hypogonadism was greater than that in the follicular (p<0.01) and luteal phases (p<0.0l) of the cycle. The serum FSH response in primary hypogonadism was markedly greater than that in the follicular (p<0.01), preovulatory (p<0.0l) and luteal phases (p<0.0l) of the menstrual cycle. Conversely, the LH levels after LH‐RH administration in secondary hypogonadism were significantly lower than in the follicular (p<0.01), preovulatory (p<0.0l) and luteal phases (p<0.01) of the cycle. The FSH response in secondary hypogonadism was slightly below that in the follicular phase (p<0.05). Thus, the FSH response to LH‐RH in primary hypogonadism and the LH response in secondary hypogonadism seemed to be sufficiently characteristic to have diagnostic value.

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