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Further Evidence Against Dopamine Deficiency as the Cause of Inappropriate Gonadotropin Secretion in Patients with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome^*

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Southern California (USC), School of Medicine, Women's Hospital, Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center Los Angeles, California 90033

Address requests for reprints to: Rogerio A. Lobo, M.D., Women's Hospital, Room 1M2, 1240 North Mission Road, Los Angeles, California 90033.

Previous studies suggested that a relative dopamine (DA) deficiency may explain the altered LH secretory dynamics that occur in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO). These studies included findings of decreased urinary excretion of homovanillic acid (HVA), a metabolite of DA, and increased urinary excretion of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG), the major brain metabolite of norepinephrine. To further explore the role of DA in these patients, disulfiram (250 mg) was administered daily for 2 weeks to alter the conversion of DA to norepinephrine and to increase both peripheral and central DA in patients with PCO and in normal women. LH pulse frequency and amplitude and the serum LH response to GnRH were assessed before and during disulfiram administration. A dopaminergic effect during disulfiram administration was evidenced by a decrease in serum PRL in the PCO patients and an increase in urinary HVA excretion and a decrease in the ratio of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol to HVA in urine in both groups (all P < 0.05). This increase in DA did not significantly alter the serum estrogen level, the mean serum LH level, LH pulse amplitude, or serum LH responses to GnRH in either the PCO patients or the normal women. These data suggest that increasing endogenous DA does not correct the inappropriate gonadotropin secretion characteristic of PCO and places further doubt on the importance of DA in explaining the altered LH secretory dynamics in these patients.

^* This work was supported in part by MH Grant HD-17519, with computational assistance provided by the OLINFO Project, NIH Grant RR-00043.

Received March 27, 1987.

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