ACTION OF ESTROGENS ON RELEASE OF LUTEINIZING HORMONE IN MENOPAUSAL WOMEN*†

Abstract

ALTHOUGH estrogens and androgens exert an inhibiting influence on the release of the follicle-stimulating (FSH) factor from the hypophysis, these same substances stimulate the release of the pituitary luteinizing factor (LH) in laboratory animals. As early as 1930, Scaglione (1) and in 1934, Hohlweg (2) demonstrated that ovaries of adult and immature normal rats could be luteinized by administration of estrogens. Hellbaum and Greep (3, 4) reported that castration in both male and female rats is followed by a marked increase in the amount of LH present in the pituitary gland as compared to normal rats. The latter investigators also found that the stored LH could be liberated by estrogens or androgens, so that following the administration of these steroids to castrated animals for from thirty to forty-five days the pituitaries contained only FSH and induced only follicular stimulation in the ovaries of immature test rats. The purpose of this study was to determine if these findings might also be observed in human subjects. Patients undergoing the menopause, either surgical or physiologic, were selected for this investigation because they present a definite symptom complex, and excrete primarily follicle-stimulating hormone in the urine. It was postulated that in the absence of estrogenic stimulation in untreated menopausal patients the LH remains stored in the pituitary gland and only FSH is liberated, resembling the condition in castrated laboratory animals. Therefore the administration of estrogens should stimulate the release of the stored LH, which in turn would be evidenced by increased excretion of LH in the urine.