CLINICAL STUDY ON THE PROLACTIN IN MALE

Report 1. The Secretion of Prolactin in the Patients with Prostatic Cancer and Hypogonadal Men

Abstract

Serum prolactin levels were measured in various urological patients by double antibody radioimmunoassay.
Serum prolactin levels of 113 normal men, whose age range was from 3 to 80 years with an average of 11.0±4.53ng/ml (Mean±S. D.), did not change with aging.
The mean serum prolactin level of patients with prostatic cancer was 9.1±3.34ng/ml and the prolactin level did not show any correlation to the clinical stages of prostatic cancer. The response to TRH in these cases was within normal range. From these data, it was considered that there was no hyperfunction in prolactin secretion from the pituitary gland in the patients with prostatic cancer.
In Klinefelter's syndrome, azoospermia and oligozoospermia patients, serum prolactin levels were also within normal range. In hypogonadotropic eunuchoidism patients whose plasma testosterone levels showed prepubertal values, however the prolactin levels were lower than those of normal adult males and the response to TRH was also diminished. Two factors might be considered to explain these results. 1) In hypogonadotropic eunuchoidism the diminished prolactin secretion may bear some relation to similar gonadotropin secretion. 2) The extremely low testosteronee levels may affect the secretion of prolactin from the pituitary gland.