STUDIES ON TESTICULAR ENDOCRINOLOGICAL FUNCTION BY ESTIMATION OF PLASMA TESTOSTERONE, ESTRADIOL AND ESTRADIOL TESTOSTERONE RATIO
Studies on Testicular Function, Report 9
1981 Volume 72 Issue 11 Pages 1450-1469
Details
1981 Volume 72 Issue 11 Pages 1450-1469
Plasma testosterone and estradiol were determined by the RIA method, and the following results were obtained:
1) The estradiol concentration in the venous blood of the spermatic cord was 38.1 times higher than that in the peripheral blood. Compared with the concentration gradient of 95.1 times in blood testosterone, the rate of secretion of estradiol was calculated to be 40% of its production rate.
2) The blood testosterone value in males at high age was noted to have been decreased, while the blood estradiol value was found to be distributed in the range of 9.9pg/ml to 69.0pg/ml, with wide individual differences, and no fixed tendency was observed.
3) In patients with Klinefelter's syndrome, a reduction in blood testosterone was observed, but no significant change in blood estradiol was observed.
When the E2/T ratio was studied, an elevation of the E2/T ratio in correlation with the reduction in the blood testosterone value was noted.
4) Following administration of HCG (10, 000IU), both the blood testosterone and estradiol values were elevated, and in 96 hours blood testosterone reached a value 2.5 times higher and blood estradiol, 2.0 times higher.
Chronological observation revealed that blood testosterone was increasing gradually, whereas blood estradiol reached the peak in 24 hours, and thereafter was decreasing gradually, indicating dissociation in the reaction of testosterone and estradiol.
5) HCG test in aged male cases revealed that both the basic and reacted values of blood testosterone were low.
As regards blood estradiol, the basic value was within the normal range, while the reacted value remained low. The rate of reactivity proved to be 2.35 times, as compared with 3.74 times in young adult males.
6) In patients with Klinefelter's syndrome, the reaction after the administration of HCG was lowered. Even in the case where blood estradiol was taken as the index, the reduction in the Leydig cell preparatory capacity was clear.
