Despite the widespread assumption that hormones stimulate motivation for sexual behavior in adolescence, no published empirical studies have demonstrated this link. In a cross-sectional study of 78 females in the eighth, ninth, and tenth grades in public schools, we show that hormones have effects on sexual motivation and behavior. Comparison with previous results from a parallel sample of males indicates that for both sexes these effects are primarily androgenic in origin and for the most part exert their effects directly rather than through the social interpretation of age and hormone-induced pubertal development.

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In this study we use serum steroid hormone assays and Adjective Check List responses from a representative sample of 102 male and 99 female adolescents to examine the relations between hormones, personality, and sexual behavior. We address two questions: (a) Does pubertal testosterone (T) cause sex dimorphism in personality? (b) Do pubertal hormones affect sexual behavior indirectly through effects on personality? Exploratory factor analysis of the Adjective Check List generated a factor common to male and female adolescents that correlated highly with T. However, male and female subjects did not differ in their mean level on this factor or in the correlation of this factor with T. In spite of the large sex difference in T, the girls were much more sensitive than the boys on the extracted factor to differences in T. We conclude that the answer to both questions is probably no.

Macrophages have been identified in the developing corpus luteum in several species, including man, and also constitute approximately 90% of cells in the peritoneal cavity. We studied the effect of peritoneal macrophages or blood monocytes on progesterone (P) synthesis by human granulosa cells from preovulatory follicles obtained at laparoscopy of 14 women undergoing in vitro fertilization. Pooled granulosa cells from follicles with mature ova were isolated by Ficoll-Hypaque gradient centrifugation. Washed granulosa cells (0.75 X 10(5)/ml) were incubated in Dulbecco's Minimum Essential Medium containing 20% calf serum with varying concentrations of pelvic macrophages (0.8-29 X 10(5)/ml) or fresh and mature blood monocytes (0.25-2.5 X 10(5)/ml). P production was determined by RIA of medium at 24-h intervals for 24-48 h. In situ concentrations of pelvic macrophages from 8 patients with tubal infertility increased cumulative P production to 140 +/- 17.8% (mean +/- SEM) of the control values. A similar increase (182 +/- 62.7%) was found with macrophages from 6 patients with endometriosis or unexplained infertility. Both fresh and mature monocytes stimulated P production to 225% and 261% of control values, respectively. Indomethacin (10(-4) M) or monoclonal antibody to somatomedin-C did not prevent stimulation of P production. These results suggest that peritoneal macrophages may exert luteotropic effects on cumulus cells while the ovulated oocyte resides in the tube, and incoming monocytes may be important in stimulating luteal cells in the developing corpus luteum.