男子不妊症に対する Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) 負荷試験の意義について

抄録

Plasma FSH, LH and testosterone were measured by a radioimmunoassay technique in 15 cases with sterility and 5 normal males following intramuscular injection of synthetic LH-RH (0.1mg).
In almost all cases with sterility, an increment of plasma FSH and LH values following LH-RH administration was seen. However, the reaction of pituitary to LH-RH administration occurred slightly slower in a group of azoospermia than in the controls, while it seemed quite normal in a group of oligospermia.
On the other hand, the increase of plasma testosterone was lower than normal in patients with sterility following the LH-RH loading test.
As mentioned avove, the pituitary reacted to LH-RH in male sterility, but the LH-RH loading test resulted in almost no increase of plasma testosterone. These facts suggest that the interstitial cells themselves are not functioning normally in male sterility. The obtained results also show that the LH-RH loading test is much superior to the conventional HCG test or the rapid HCG test recently applied, since it makes diagnosis possible for both pituitary and gonad conditions at the same time, besides shortening the time for the test.