LACK OF AROMATISATION OF CIRCULATING DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE AND DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE SULPHATE IN AMENORRHOEIC WOMEN STIMULATED WITH HUMAN GONADOTROPHINS

Abstract

Two amenorrhoeic women were given a course of 10 injections of human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) in daily doses corresponding to 260 IU of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) activity and 165 IU of interstitial cell stimulating hormone (ICSH) activity. In both patients an extensive ovarian stimulation was observed as indicated by the greatly increased urinary excretion of estrone, 17[beta]-estradiol and estriol. When HMG-treatment was followed subsequently by the administration of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) for 5 days in a total dose of 18,000 and 30,000 IU, respectively, functional corpus luteum tissue was formed in both patients as evidenced by a huge rise in urinary pregnane-3[alpha],20[alpha]-diol excretion and by the secretory transformation of a previously atrophic endometrium. At the approximate height of the f ollicular phase tracer doses of H3-labelled dehydro-epiandrosterone sulphate (DHAS) and C14-labelled dehydroepiandro-sterone (DHA) were administered to both patients in the form of a continuous intravenous infusion of 10 hr. duration. Infusion of the same dose was repeated under identical experimental conditions at the approximate height of the luteal phase. In both patients, very little radioactive material was associated with estrone and 17[beta]-estradiol and none with estriol isolated from 96-hr, urine specimens obtained at both phases of ovarian stimulation. It is concluded that - in contradistinction to the situation in pregnant women - circulating DHAS is not a significant precursor of urinary estrogens in non-pregnant women.