Abstract
Testosterone (T) and LH were measured in the plasma of 39 full-term males aged 7 to 180 days, and in 44 plasmas from 10 infants with MPH (XY karyotype and 2 palpable testes) in the same age range. Patients with enzyme defects on the T pathway were excluded. A LHRH test (0.1 mg/m2) was performed in MPH only. In both groups, plasma T rose progressively to peak around 2 months of age, before to decrease. The mean ± SEM peak levels of T were identical in normals (3.6 ± .2 ng/ml) and MPH (3.4 ± .1 ng/ml). Plasma LH underwent parallel changes, with mean peak values identical in normals (3.02 ± 0.41 mIU/ml) and MPH (2.92 ± .32 mIU/ml). T and LH values were highly significantly correlated in normals (r = 0.73, p<0.001) and MPH (r = 0.59, p<0.001). In MPH, post-LHRH peak values of LH and FSH seemed also to peak at 2 months of age, and were significantly correlated with basal levels : r = 0.76, p<0.02 for LH, r = 0.86, p<0.005 for FSH. The data establish that 1/the postnatal rise of T in male infants is secondary to an activation of the hypothalamopituitary gonadal axis ; 2/ the negative feedback mechanism is normal during this period of life in MPH presumably secondary to a lack of receptivity to androgens.
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Chaussain, J., Gendrel, D. & Roger, M. Pituitary-gonadal function in normal boys and in male pseudohermaphrodites (MPH) during early infancy. Pediatr Res 15, 78 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198101000-00040
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198101000-00040
