GROWTH-HORMONE TREATMENT OF SUBFERTILE MALES

Objective: To study spermatogenesis and sperm motility during GH thera py in infertile men. Design: Prospective open study. Each patient was treated with GH for 12 weeks and followed for a total of 36 weeks with sampling of blood and semen. Setting: Outpatients studied at a clinic al research unit of a university hospital. Patients: Nine oligozoosper mic (< 5 x 10(6) sperm/mL) males and nine asthenozoospermic (percentag e motile sperm < 30 and > 15 x 10(6) sperm/mL) males. The patient grou ps had a significantly lower GH response to an arginine GH stimulation test as compared with a control group Results: Serum insulin-like gro wth factor I (IGF-I) and serum IGF-binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) levels increased significantly during GH treatment, as did seminal IGF-I. Ser um E(2), T, PRL, FSH, LH, and GH-binding protein were unchanged during the study. Sperm motility tvas increased significantly during GH trea tment in both patient groups. There was no difference in sperm count d uring the treatment. There were three pregnancies in the nine couples from the asthenozoospermic group and no pregnancies in the oligozoospe rmic group. Conclusion: The biologic and clinical results in this stud y encourage the initiation of double-blind, placebo-controlled trials.