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Concomitant Pulsatile Release of Prolactin and Luteinizing Hormone in Hypogonadal Women^*

N. S. Cetel and S. S. C. Yen

Department of Reproductive Medicine, School of Medicine, and the General Clinical Research Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093

Address correspondence and requests for reprints to: Samuel S. C. Yen, M.D., D.Sc, Professor and Chairman, Department of Reproductive Medicine—T-002, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA 92093.

The finding that exogenous LRF administration induces PRL release prompted us to examine the possibility that spontaneous pulses of PRL and LH may occur concomitantly in women. Blood samples were obtained between 0800 and 1600 h at 15-min intervals for a duration of 6–10 h in 10 hypogonadal women. Distinct pulsatile fluctuations of plasma PRL concentration were present in all subjects and 96% of these pulses were observed to coincide with LH pulses. The mean (±SE) increment of PRL (nadir to peak) was 4.3 ± 0.3 ng/ml (61.7 ± 5.1%). The mean interval between pulses of LH was 87.6 ± 3.6 min and between pulses of PRL was 110.4 ± 10.4 min. The time course for the ascending and descending limbs of PRL pulses were similar to those of LH pulses, and qualitatively resembled those induced by pulses of exogenous LRF. The finding of a synchrony between the endogenous pulses of LH and PRL during the waking hours of the day in the hypogonadal woman suggests that pulsatile release of PRL and LH may be mediated through a common neuroendocrine mechanism. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 56: 1313, 1983)

^* This project was supported in part by NIH Grants HD-12303 and RR-00827 (to UCSD General Clinical Research Center). Presented in part at the 64th Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society, San Francisco, CA, 1982. This research was conducted in part by the Clayton Foundation for Research, California Division.

Research Fellow in Reproductive Endocrinology.

Senior Clayton Foundation Investigator.

Received July 28, 1982.

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