Gonadotropin response to synthetic gonadotropin hormone-releasing hormone (GnRH) in heroin addicts

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
To determine whether the pituitary-gonadal deficiency in heroin addicts is related to heroin''s effect on the hypothalamus, GnRH was administered to 10 male heroin addicts [human] and 5 controls. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) response were measured. Basal FSH and LH levels were significantly lower in addicts; after GnRH stimulation the addicts'' FSH and LH values increased but not significantly compared to controls. The difference between the 2 groups'' response was highly significant. Heroin may cause an incomplete blocking of gonadotropin secretion at the pituitary level, inducing a hypophyseal-gonadal deficiency and a long-lasting depletion of the endogenous releasing factor, which accounts for the reduced response to GnRH.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: