Effects of progesterone administration on follicle-stimulating hormone and prolactin release in estrogen treated eugonadal adult men

Abstract

In order to investigate the modulatory effect of steroids on FSH secretion in vivo, we studied 16 human males, aged 51-81 years, affected by prostatic carcinoma. They were given estradiol or E2 plus progesterone (P), added at different times during E2 treatment. Daily blood samples were collected in order to determine LH, FSH, and PRL levels; moreover, blood samples were collected at 2 h intervals for 12 h on the day of P administration. We observed the expected biphasic effect on LH secretion, whereas daily basal FSH levels, during E2 treatment, decreased gradually and progressivly from the first day until the end of the study. FSH levels exhibited, after P administration, wide fluctuations, with peak levels observed from 2 to 6 h after P in 4 of 6 patients studied (at 72 h during E2 and in castrated men, is therefore evocable also in the presence of testicular secretions, underlying that positive feedback effects on gonadotropins are not suppressed in adult male human subjects.

The characteristic change in the distribution of S-100 immunoreactive folliculostellate cells in rat anterior pituitary upon long-term estrogen treatment is prevented by concomitant progesterone treatment

“…Estrogens are also used as replacement therapy after surgical removal of ovaries or in menopause or for treatment of human males with prostatic carcinoma. In these patients, estrogen alone depressed the FSH release, and addition of P was able to induce FSH peak [26]. However, the effect of concomitant P administration on the morphological changes in the anterior pituitary caused by estrogen treatment in long-term in vivo experiments is not clarified.…”