Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Vol 53, 883-886, Copyright © 1981 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Spermatic and peripheral plasma concentrations of testosterone and androstenedione in prepubertal boys

G Forti, S Santoro, GA Grisolia, F Bassi, R Boninsegni, G Fiorelli and M Serio

Spermatic and peripheral plasma concentrations of testosterone (T) and androstenedione (A) have been measured in prepubertal boys affected by inguinal hernia (group I; n = 7) and unilateral undescended testis (group II; n = 18). Mean (+/- SE) spermatic T concentrations (47.7 +/- 14.8 ng/dl in group I; 36.3 +/- 3.4 ng/dl in group II) were significantly different from mean peripheral T concentrations (9.8 +/- 2.1 ng/dl in group I; 9.3 +/- 0.9 ng/dl in group II) in both groups (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.0005, respectively). Mean spermatic A concentration (59.7 +/- 4.9 ng/dl) was significantly higher than mean peripheral A concentration (49.8 +/- 4.9 ng/dl) in group II (P less than 0.05) but not in group I. Mean spermatic and peripheral T and A values found in boys of group I were not significantly different from those found in group II. The mean spermatic/peripheral T ratio was higher (5.01 in group I; 4.42 in group II) than the corresponding mean spermatic/peripheral A ratio (1.27 in group I; 1.32 in group II) in both groups. Our data suggest that 1) although testicular T secretion is present in all prepubertal boys, A secretion is not constant and often negligible; 2) the contribution of testicular secretion to the circulating T is much more important than the contribution to the circulating A; 3) no significant differences were found between the testicular secretory pattern of prepubertal boys with inguinal hernia and unselected boys with unilateral undescended testis.