MATERNAL SERUM ANDROGENS IN HUMAN-PREGNANCY - EARLY INCREASES WITHIN THE CYCLE OF CONCEPTION

Previous studies have demonstrated elevations in testosterone and andr ostenedione initiated within the cycle of conception in pregnant non-h uman primates, and minimal data in the human support the same picture, In the present study we have investigated a group of patients schedul ed for artificial insemination with regular menstrual cycles, For this study all patients provided blood samples at 5 days after the luteini zing hormone (LH) surges and daily through the luteal phase and into e arly pregnancy (n = 12). Patients who did not become pregnant served a s normal controls (n = 9), We have measured 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17 -OHP) as a marker of luteal activity not obscured by progesterone with in the cycle of conception and testosterone and androstenedione as the major androgens, There were no significant changes in testosterone an d androstenedione in the non-pregnant controls, but both testosterone and androstenedione were significantly elevated in the pregnant luteal phase, with the first increases occurring at 15 and 14 days respectiv ely after the LH surge, Three of 12 pregnant patients did not demonstr ate a dramatic increase in either testosterone or androstenedione and when examined more carefully a corresponding lack of increase in 17-OH P in those same subjects indicated less than optimal luteal activity, suggesting that these androgens were products of the corpus luteum, In three subjects in which consecutive non-pregnant and pregnant cycles were followed there was a dramatic increase from the nonpregnant lutea l phase to the pregnant luteal phase indicating that the more importan t observation may be the concentrations of androgens in the conceptive luteal phase compared to some baseline, either previous luteal phase or even follicular phase, We have also studied changes in dehydroepian drosterone sulphate and found that there was no significant contributi on to this increase in androgens in early conception, These studies de monstrate a significant increase in both testosterone and androstenedi one presumably of ovarian, specifically luteal, origin and that adrena l androgen production is not a factor in these changes.