Journal of Andrology Cross-Journal Searching
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Scaglia, H. E.
Right arrow Articles by Aquilano, D. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Scaglia, H. E.
Right arrow Articles by Aquilano, D. R.

Journal of Andrology, Vol 12, Issue 5 273-280, Copyright © 1991 by The American Society of Andrology

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Altered testicular hormone production in infertile patients with idiopathic oligoasthenospermia

H. E. Scaglia, C. A. Carrere, V. A. Mariani, C. C. Zylbersztein, G. J. Rey-Valzacchi, E. E. Kelly and D. R. Aquilano
Reference Center of Radioimmunoassay, Centro de Especialistas en Analisis Biologicos Distrito I, La Plata, Argentina.

We studied the kinetics of testicular response to human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in oligoasthenospermic and asthenospermic patients (OAZ-AZ). The responses of testosterone (T), androstenedione (A), 17 OH-progesterone (17OHP), and estradiol (E2) were evaluated in 60 OAZ-AZ patients and compared to those of 10 normal men. The responses of T, A, and 17OHP to hCG in the control group displayed a biphasic pattern with an initial peak at 4 hours and a second peak after 24 hours. The E2 response showed a single peak between 24 and 48 hours after hCG administration. OAZ-AZ patients had two types of T responses: group 1 (n = 40) had no first peak and group 2 (n = 20) had a normal response pattern. The response of A was similar to that of T, and the E2 response was normal in both groups. There were three types of 17OHP responses in group 1 (low, high, or normal); however, the 17OHP response was normal in group 2. Treatment of group 1 with aromatase inhibitors (aminoglutethimide or testolactone) induced an improvement of the acute T response only in patients with high or normal 17OHP response to hCG, whereas no effects were observed in patients with low 17OHP response. In group 2, the aromatase inhibitors induced no changes in the T response. These results demonstrate that in some OAZ-AZ patients (group 1, blunted T response) testicular hormone production is altered. They also suggest the presence of two enzyme blocks: one at the 17,20 desmolase level, mediated by E2, and another at early biosynthetic steps, not mediated by E2.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Biol. Chem.Home page
K. Evaul and S. R. Hammes
Cross-talk between G Protein-coupled and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors Regulates Gonadotropin-mediated Steroidogenesis in Leydig Cells
J. Biol. Chem., October 10, 2008; 283(41): 27525 - 27533.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1991 by The American Society of Andrology.