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Production Rates of Dihydrotestosterone in Healthy Men and Women and in Men with Male Pattern Baldness: Determination by Stable Isotope/Dilution and Mass Spectrometry

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Departments of Internal Medicine III (H.V., P.N., W.W.) and Dermatology (H.M.), University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: H. Vierhapper, M.D., Clinical Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine III, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090 Wien, Austria. E-mail: h.vierhapper{at}akh-wien.qc.at

Abstract

Production rates of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) were determined in healthy men (n = 8), in healthy women during the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle (n = 7), and in young men with male pattern baldness (n = 8) using the stable isotope dilution technique and mass spectrometry. [2,3,4-¹³C]DHT was infused for 10 h at doses of 15 µg/h (men) and 2 µg/h (women), and blood samples were obtained at 20-min intervals during the last 4 h of the observation period. Production rates estimated between April and June were 2.9 ± 1.1 µg/h (women) and 17.8 ± 6.2 µg/h (men). In men production rates of DHT were similar (16.2 ± 7.7 µg/h) when the investigation was repeated between October and December. Mean production rates of DHT in young men with male pattern baldness (60 ± 50 µg/h) were higher than those in healthy men (P < 0.005). Although this group included two individuals with normal production rates of DHT, the production rate of DHT was markedly elevated (range, 32.0–161.0 µg/h) in the remaining patients. Stable isotope-labeled infusions of DHT are suitable for clinical use in a routine setting to obtain analytically correct estimates of DHT production in vivo. In the majority of men with male pattern baldness endogenous production of DHT is markedly increased, providing a rationale for therapeutic 5-reductase inhibition in this disorder.

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