EFFECT OF ORCHIECTOMY UPON CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF BLOOD IN YOUNG MATURE MALES, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SUSTAINED INCREASE IN THE LEVEL OF SERUM INORGANIC PHOSPHORUS*

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Abstract
Concentration of serum inorganic phosphorus (SIP) was studied under basal conditions before and after castration of 9 healthy males, 18 to 38 years old. A statistically significant mean increase in range developed within 15 days after orchiectomy and was maintained through 4 years of subsequent study. The increase was greatest in subjects who had low values before castration. Substantial increases failed to occur in some subjects, however, especially in those whose values were high at the time of orchiectomy. Orchiectomy did not induce sustained, statistically significant changes in the levels of serum Ca or other blood elements under study (Na, K, uric acid, creatinine, glucose, pyruvic acid, lactic acid, cholesterol, lipid P, hemoglobin, total proteins, albumin, globulin, and cholinesterase). Two concepts are advanced. (1) SIP concentration (which is high until sexual maturation or shortly thereafter) tends subsequently (a) to remain elevated for several years in subjects who fail to mature sexually (eunuchoidism, hypopituitarism, and gonadal dysgenesis), and (b) to become elevated in mature persons whose gonadal secretions are eliminated by castration or reduced, as in Simmonds'' disease and some cases of acromegaly. (2) High values for SIP due to reduced or absent gonadal secretions, may be lowered by gonadal secretions or by sex hormones. This is observed after sexual maturation under normal conditions and may occur following administration of sex hormones in conditions with actual or presumed reduction of gonadal secretions (eunuchoidism, gonadal dysgenesis, and acromegaly). Age seems to be one of the factors which influence the extent of the effect of gonadal secretions and sex hormones on the SIP level. High SIP values in childhood, acromegaly and gigantism may be due in part to deficiency of gonadal secretions and not solely to postulated increases in titers of growth hormone.

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