EFFECT OF A SINGLE INJECTION OF HUMAN PITUITARY FOLLICLE-STIMULATING HORMONE ON URINARY ESTROGENS AND THE VAGINAL SMEAR IN AMEN-ORRHEIC WOMEN

Abstract

The effect of a single injection of human pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone (HPFSH) with or without the subsequent administration of repeated doses of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) was studied in 5 amenorrheic women. Administration of a single dose of HPFSH resulted in each case in a significant increase in urinary estrogen excretion. When HCG was administered forty-eight hours following injection of HPFSH, there was an additional pronounced rise in urinary estrogen excretion and a concomitant increase in pregnanediol excretion. No such rise occurred when the interval between HPFSH and HCG administrations exceeded ninety-six hours. A study of the vaginal smear indicated that identical regressive changes occurred both when estrogen secretion decreased or when it was unchanged or even increased but was accompanied by an increased progesterone production. During the period of estrogen (but not of progesterone) secretion, both the karyopyknotic and eosinophilic indices showed a highly significant correlation when plotted against the logarithm of the sum of urinary estrone + 17[beta]-estradiol + estriol.