PRENATAL EXPOSURE OF FEMALE RHESUS-MONKEYS TO TESTOSTERONE PROPIONATEINCREASES SERUM LUTEINIZING-HORMONE LEVELS IN ADULTHOOD

Objective: To determine whether prenatal androgenization of the develo ping primate hypothalamohypophyseal unit induces irreversible changes in LH secretion.Design: Prospective nonrandomized study. Setting: An a cademic research environment. Animals: Forty-one adult ovulatory femal e rhesus monkeys. Intervention(s): Seventeen female rhesus monkeys exp osed prenatally to testosterone propionate (female pseudohermaphrodite s) and 24 normal females underwent blood sampling over two ovulatory m enstrual cycles. Main Outcome Measure(s): Serum FSH, LH, E(2), and T w ere determined by RIA; P was determined by enzyme immunoassay. Serum b ioactive LH was measured by mouse Leydig cell bioassay. Result(s): Ton ic immunoactive LH hypersecretion and normal FSH release occurred in f emale pseudohermaphrodites compared with normal females. Periovulatory immunoactive LH and FSH secretion was similar in both female types, w hereas a relative increase in the amount of circulating bioactive LH t o immunoactive LH was found at midcycle in female pseudohermaphrodites versus normal females. The length of the follicular phase was unaffec ted by prenatal androgen exposure, but the slopes of serum T and E(2) concentrations versus follicular phase cycle day were significantly lo wer in female pseudohermaphrodites than normal females. Luteal phase l ength and P secretion were comparable in both types of females. Conclu sion(s): Androgen exposure during primate neural differentiation may a lter permanently the pattern of LH secretion in the presence of cyclic gonadotropin release.