Abstract
The testosterone (T) secretion of collagenase-dispersed rat interstitial cells exposed to gonadotropin provides a highly sensitive in vitro bioassay (RICT) for LH (Dufau et al, JCEM 39: 610, 1974). The serum levels of biologically active (B) LH and the relationship to immunoreactive (I) LH have been studied in 12 prepubertal (PRE) (age 2-17, T=9.0 ng/dl) and 12 pubertal (PUB) (age 10-16, T=164) normal males. Mean B-LH levels in PRE (< 1mIU/m1, IRP-2-hMG) are significantly (p < .001) lower than in PUB (13.8±2.4 (X±SE). B-LH was undetectable in all PRE and not separable by Tanner stages in PUB. I-LH levels, measured by double-antibody RIA, in PRE (3.6±1.0) are also lower (p <.01) than in PUB (9.3±1.5). B/I ratios in PRE (<0.6) are lower than in PUB (2.1±0.7). The B/I ratio in PRE is lower than in normal adult males (2.5±0.1) and closer to the levels reported in normal premenopausal women (1.2±0.1). The B/I ratio in PUB does not differ from that in adult males. In conclusion: (1) The RICT bioassay method for quantitating serum LH is applicable to studies in childhood; (2) RIA measurements of LH apparently overestimate true bioactive concentrations in subjects with minimal pituitary LH secretion; (3) The similarity of B/I ratio in PRE males to adult premenopausal women and in PUB to adult males suggests that sex steroids may modulate the biologic quality, as well as quantity, of pituitary LH secretion.
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Reiter, E., Dufau, M., Root, A. et al. 330 BIOACTIVE AND IMMUNOREACTIVE SERUM LH IN NORMAL PREPUBERTAL AND PUBERTAL BOYS. Pediatr Res 12 (Suppl 4), 418 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00335
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00335
