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Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Vol 72, 1286-1289, Copyright © 1991 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

The importance of signal pattern in the transmission of endocrine information: pituitary gonadotropin responses to continuous and pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone

MB Southworth, AM Matsumoto, KM Gross, MR Soules and WJ Bremner
Medical Service and Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Seattle, Washington 98108.

We tested the hypothesis that pulsatile GnRH stimulation of the pituitary is required for normal gonadotropin secretion in humans. We administered GnRH in pulsatile and continuous regimens in varying order to each of five women with hypothalamic amenorrhea and presumed endogenous GnRH deficiency. Mean serum levels of GnRH were similar during the pulsatile and continuous regimens. All women ovulated during the pulsatile regimen (progesterone, greater than 31.8 nmol/L (10 ng/mL); none ovulated during the continuous regimen. Compared to pretreatment levels, FSH and estradiol, as measured by RIA, and LH, as measured by bioassay, increased significantly during the pulsatile GnRH regimen, but not during the continuous regimen. However, LH and alpha- subunit, as measured by RIA, increased significantly during both continuous and pulsatile GnRH administration. We conclude that a pulsatile pattern of GnRH is essential to normal functioning of the human female reproductive axis. Continuous administration of GnRH, producing mean serum levels of the peptide indistinguishable from those found during pulsatile administration, stimulates some rise in a nonbioactive form of radioimmunoassayable LH-like material and alpha- subunit, but does not stimulate bioactive LH, FSH, estradiol, or progesterone and does not lead to ovulation.


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S. J. Park, L. T. Goldsmith, and G. Weiss
Age-Related Changes in the Regulation of Luteinizing Hormone Secretion by Estrogen in Women
Experimental Biology and Medicine, July 1, 2002; 227(7): 455 - 464.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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