ADRENAL AND TESTICULAR DEFICIENCY: A COMPARISON BASED ON SIMILARITIES IN ANDROGEN DEFICIENCY, ANDROGEN AND 17-KETOSTEROID EXCRETION, AND ON DIFFERENCES IN THEIR EFFECTS UPON PITUITARY ACTIVITY

Abstract

Levels of urinary an-drogens and 17-ketosteroids found in normal subjects were compared with the low levels found in testicular failure and in Addison''s disease in men. In the men reported in this paper, urinary 17-ketosteroid levels in Addison''s disease and in severe testicular deficiency approximated half of normal. Judged by prostatic size, androgen deficiency is greater in testicular failure than in Addison''s disease. Titres of urinary gonado-tropins in normal subjects were compared with those found in testicular failure and oligospermia and in men and women with Addison''s disease. Low urinary 17-ketosteroid levels and androgen levels in men with Addison''s disease are not associated with high titres of urinary gonadotropins. Severe oligospermia without signs of androgen deficiency and with normal 17-ketos- teroids is associated with high excretion levels of gonadotropins. Gonadotropin excretion is normal in Addison''s disease (despite loss of adrenal androgens) when gonadal function is normal, and is increased when gonadal damage is superimposed. The data presented are interpreted to mean that while androgen deficiency in men and women has little power to cause pituitary hyperactivity, ovarian deficiency and testicular game-togenic deficiency do have such power. This is considered an additional argument in favor of the existence of a 2d testicular hormone.