Serum Pregnenolone, Progesterone, 17-Hydroxyprogesterone, Testosterone and 5α-Dihydrotestosterone During Female Puberty

Abstract

Serum pregnenolone, progesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, testosterone and 5α-dihydrotestosterone concentrations were measured radio-immunologically from a group of 200 normal girls 7–17 years of age. Samples from postmenarcheal girls were taken on days 6–9 and 20–23 of the menstrual cycle. Steroid concentrations were related to bone age, breast and pubic hair developmental stages, and gynecological age. When the premenarcheal values and the values from postmenarcheal samples taken on days 6–9 were related to bone age, the concentrations of all the five steroids increased with advancing age. The first steroid to exhibit a significant rise was pregnenolone. This rise was first seen between the bone age groups 7.5 and 8.5 years. Testosterone was quite unchanged until 9.5 years of bone age, after which a steep increase took place until 12.5 years, the concentrations reached being 3.5-fold the initial level. Following menarche, which took place at 13.4 years of bone age in this series, a plateau was visible in the concentrations of all the five steroids. This period was followed again by an increase in steroid concentrations, and it seems that endocrine maturity was not yet reached in the oldest age group (17.5 years of bone age). In postmenarcheal girls, the majority of the cycles were anovulatory during the first two years of gynecological age. The frequency of ovulation gradually increased to over 80% at the age of 5 gynecological years. An interesting finding was that serum testosterone was significantly higher during the latter half of the anovulatory cycles as compared with the ovulatory ones or with samples taken on days 6–9. We suggest that the elevated serum testosterone in anovulatory cycles originates from follicles, the ripening of which is arrested.