Administration of increasing doses of gonadotropin-releasing hormone in men with spinal cord injury to investigate dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis

作者：Bauman William A.; La Fountaine Michael F.; Cirnigliaro Christopher M.; Kirshblum Steven C.; Spungen Ann M.

来源：Spinal Cord, 2018, 56(3): 247-258.

DOI：10.1038/s41393-017-0002-x

Study design Prospective.
Objectives To determine the optimum gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) dose to identify dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in men with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Setting Metropolitan Area Hospitals, New York and New Jersey, USA.
Methods SCI men (16 hypogonadal (HG=serum testosterone <12.1 nmol/l) and 14 eugonadal (EG)) and able-bodied (AB) men (27 HG and 11 EG) were studied. GnRH (10, 50, and 100 mu g) was randomly administered intravenously on three separate visits. Blood samples were collected post-GnRH for serum-luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicular-stimulating hormone (FSH).
Results HG and EG men had a similar proportion of clinically acceptable gonadotropin responses to all three GnRH doses. The incremental gonadotropin responses to GnRH were not significantly different across the groups. However, in the SCI-HG group, GnRH of 100 mu g resulted in the greatest integrated FSH response, and in the SCI-EG group, GnRH of 50 mu g resulted in the greatest integrated LH response compared with the AB groups. A consistent, but not significant, absolute increase in gonadotropin release was observed in the SCI groups at all GnRH doses.
Conclusions Lower doses of GnRH did not improve the ability to identify the clinical dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. However, the absolutely higher SCI-HG FSH response to GnRH of 100 mu g and a higher SCI-EG LH response to GnRH of 50 mu g, along with a higher gonadotropin release at all GnRH doses, albeit not significant, suggests a hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction in persons with SCI.

• 出版日期2018-3