No abstract

The plasma concentrations and episodic fluctuations of immunoreactive FSH and LH as well as the pituitary sensitivity to LH-RH stimulation were evaluated in post-menopausal women. The subjects were divided into 4 groups according to age. Group 1: 60-70 years old (n= 11), group 2: 70-80 years old (n=22), group 3: 80-90 years old (n=31) and group 4: 90-100 years old (n = 8). Standards used in gonadotrophin radioimmunoassays included the LER-907 preparation and a pooled post-menopausal serum. Since it was found that circulating gonadotrophins have an immunological pattern different from that shown by the pituitary preparation, the results were expressed in mIU/ml calculated accordingly to the immunological behaviour of pooled post-menopausal sera. The mean (\m=+-\se) plasma levels of FSH (mIU/ml) were: group 1: 105.9 \ m=+-\9.5, group 2: 149.3 \ m=+-\10.5, group 3: 124.8 \ m=+-\7.1 and group 4: 149.4 \ m=+-\25.3. The mean (\ m=+-\se) plasma levels of LH (mIU/ml) were: group 1: 81.9 \ m=+-\12.5, group 2: 95.4 \ m=+-\ 9.9, group 3: 84.3 \ m=+-\ 7.7 and group 4: 113.5 \ m=+-\ 19.1. No statistically significant differences were observed among the 4 groups. One patient from each group was randomly selected in order to evaluate their LH and FSH episodic release as well as their pituitary responsiveness to

No abstract

LH-releasing hormone (LRH 2 ), purified from porcine hypothalamic tissue, was tested in the human being. The LRH was injected iv into the following 8 subjects: 2 untreated men, 2 untreated women, 2 men pretreated with ethinyl estradiol, and 2 women pretreated with an oral contraceptive preparation (Lyndiol). The design was that of a 4-factor partially nested factorial experiment in which serum LH and FSH levels were measured by specific radioimmunoassays and compared with the values obtained after injection of a control solution of lysine vasopressin. The data indicated a highly significant increase (p <0.01) in serum LH at 23.5 min and a significant increase (p<0.05) in serum FSH at 24.5 min after administration of LRH. There was a 3.7-fold mean increase in serum LH levels with a range of 1.9-7.5, and a 2.2-fold mean increase in serum FSH levels (1.2-4.8). The response to LRH was not significantly influenced by either the sex of the subject or pretreatment with a steroid suppressing LH release. This study demonstrates that administration of LRH of porcine origin can induce release of LH in both men and women and thus is not species specific. (J Clin Endocr 29: 1046