ABSTRACT
The development of radioimmunoassay of steroid hormones in peripheral venous blood has led to a more direct index of gonadal production and concurrent monitoring of glandular function. While serial analyses of total urinary oestrogens can be correlated with luteinizing hormone (LH) excretion in treating amenorrhoea, radioimmunoassay of plasma oestrogens measures acute changes in ovarian responsiveness. For studies of androgens radioimmunoassay of plasma testosterone is the method of choice, but fractionation of urinary 17-oxosteroids may be useful and can be extended to include the pregnane series and corticoids. Urinary pregnanediol, however, may not reflect the endogenous secretion of progesterone and should be reserved for assessing induction of ovulation. Luteal function can be evaluated rapidly and specifically by radioimmunoassay of plasma progesterone. Although radioimmunoassay offers a new approach to ovarian physiology, its systematic application to disease is still in the future.
Subject(s)
Estrogens/blood , Progesterone/blood , Testosterone/blood , Adult , Estrogens/urine , Female , Humans , Luteinizing Hormone/urine , Male , Menstruation , Middle Aged , Pregnancy , Progesterone/urine , Radioimmunoassay , Reference Values , Testosterone/urineABSTRACT
Animal experiments have suggested that vasectomy may disturb the endocrine function of the testis. To explore this possibility in man blood was obtained from 277 men who had undergone vasectomy up to six years earlier or who were about to undergo the operation. Mean plasma testosterone concentrations seemed to be slightly higher in those who had undergone vasectomy than in the preoperative group, although this difference was not statistically significant. There was no significant difference between these two groups in the concentrations of luteinising hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, prolactin, or oestradiol.
Subject(s)
Gonadal Steroid Hormones/blood , Vasectomy , Adult , Estradiol/blood , Follicle Stimulating Hormone/blood , Humans , Luteinizing Hormone/blood , Male , Prolactin/blood , Testosterone/blood , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Somatic and meiotic chromosomes have been studied prospectively in 200 subfertile males. The results have been correlated with clinical, seminal and endocrinological features, with histological findings in testicular biopsies and with response to conventional treatment. Somatic chromosome abnormalities were found in 3-5% of cases and variants of the Y chromosome were found in 10-5%. Definite abnormalities in meiotic chromosomes were observed in 20% of these patients, including supernumerary chromosomes, low chiasma frequency and asynapsis, and translocations. Many of these abnormalities occurred as mosaics, presumably a result of meiotic mutation. In 4 cases, a previously unrecognised abnormality in pachynemas has been defined. Absence of meiosis was found in 12% of cases, which correlated well with the histological findings of germinal cell aplasia and elevated urinary FSH levels.
