ANTIHORMONE FORMATION COMPLICATING PITUITARY GONADOTROPIN THERAPY IN INFERTILE MEN: II. EFFECT ON NUMBER OF SPERM, MORPHOLOGY OF THE TESTIS AND URINARY GONADOTROPINS*

Abstract

THE search for therapeutic agents effective in male infertility has been relatively fruitless to date. In recent years, hormonal therapy has been considered. Of the various hormones, the ones most likely to succeed would seem to be those that ordinarily stimulate spermatogenesis: the gonadotropins. Of the gonadotropins (from anterior pituitary, pregnancy urine and pregnant mare serum sources), one hormone that is known specifically to stimulate spermatogenesis is follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) of the anterior pituitary (1). It cannot be expected that FSH will prove effective in all types of male sterility. Several prerequisites are necessary before successful results can reasonably be expected. In addition to the obvious prerequisites, such as patent vas deferens, and the knowledge that the wife is potentially capable of conceiving, we have considered the following conditions to be essential: 1. Testes with potentially reversible defects. In many cases of infertility, the testes are irreparably damaged and attempts at therapy of any kind are useless. 2. Gonadotropin production that is not already elevated. If there were already an increase in endogenous gonadotropic hormones, adding FSH from an exogenous source could not be expected to stimulate spermatogenesis.