Salivary Testosterone in Hirsutism: Correlations with Serum Testosterone and the Degree of Hair Growth

Abstract

Testosterone (T) concentrations in saliva and serum were measured in 53 women with various degrees of hirsutism and hyperandrogenism. The bioavailability of T was judged by comparing the correlations among the grade of hirsutism, salivary testosterone (SaT), and serum total and free T (fT) and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels. The effect of body mass index on the correlations was also studied. The high SaT concentrations [mean, 237.6 +/- 66.7 (+/- SD) pmol/L] compared to the serum fT concentrations (mean, 29.1 +/- 11.8 pmol/L) in hirsute women may reflect the bioavailability of albumin-bound T or an ability of the salivary glands to metabolize steroids. SaT was more closely related to the T/SHBG ratio (mean, 82.5 X 10(-3) +/- 54.8), reflecting the non-SHBG-bound fraction of T, than to serum fT, which might support the former theory. SaT correlated better to the degree of hirsutism (rho = 0.45; P less than 0.01) than did any of the serum T parameters or SHBG. The correlation between SaT and hirsutism was partly dependent on the effect of body mass index. After eliminating this effect, SaT still correlated with hair growth on the total body area (rho = 0.36; P less than 0.05). On the basis of the results, SaT seems to relate to the bioavailable fraction of the hormone and, thus, appears to be an optimal method for studying hirsute women.

Adrenal- and Ovarian-Vein Steroids and LH Response to GnRH in Two Patients with Virilizing Adrenocortical Adenoma Studied by Selective Catheterizations

“…An endocrinologically similar adenoma has been described by Gabrilove et al [4], Testosteronesecreting adrenal adenomas are rare, 17 cases having been presented in the literature [2,[9][10][11], In both of our sub jects, the fT and SaT concentrations were considerably elevated. We have previously found SaT to be a good indicator in describing the severity of hirsutism [8].…”

A Time-Resolved Fluorescence Immunoassay for the Measurement of Testosterone in Saliva: Monitoring of Testosterone Replacement Therapy with Testosterone Buciclate

“…Salivary testosterone levels are independent of salivary flow rate (5) and, due to the rapid passage of steroid hormones from blood to saliva, despite enzymes such as 5-a-reductase being present in salivary glands (39), steroid metabolism is probably not an important source of error in the measurements of testosterone in saliva (40). The importance of metabolism of testosterone in salivary glands is still unclear (41,42), but recent results of in vitro experiments (40) and the excellent correlation of salivary tes- tosterone with total-, free-and particularly non-SHBGbound testosterone (16), suggest that metabolism of steroids in human salivary glands does not affect the level of salivary testosterone. Thus, salivary testosterone appears to reflect the biological activity of the hormone.…”

“…Because of the non-invasive and stress-free technique of sample collection as well as the ease of multiple sampling by the patient himself, salivary hormone assays are being used increasingly in psychological (11,12), anthropological (13,14), and field studies (15). From a clinical point of view, salivary testosterone results not only seem to be of greater diagnostic use in hirsutism than any of the currently used serum androgen parameters (16), but also seem to be well suited for monitoring testosterone replacement therapy.…”

Diagnostic usefulness of salivary reproductive hormones: An update

“…After eliminating this effect, Sal-T still correlated with hair growth on the total body area. On the basis of the results, Sal-T seems to relate to the bioavailable fraction of the hormone and, thus, appears to be an optimal method for studying hirsute women 3 . A major focus of testosterone analysis in saliva is in infertility research for the treatment of male hypogonadism.…”