DECONVOLUTION ANALYSIS OF BIOASSAYABLE LH-SECRETION AND HALF-LIFE IN MEN WITH IDIOPATHIC OLIGOASTHENOSPERMIA

To further investigate the nature of neuroendocrine disturbances of th e hypothalamopituitary-gonadal axis in idiopathic male infertility, we studied 12 infertile men with oligoasthenozoospermia and 13 euspermic controls, matched for age and body mass index, by blood withdrawal at 10-min intervals for 8 h to analyse pulsatile release of bioactive LH (b-LH). The rat interstitial cell testosterone (RICT) bioassay was us ed in conjunction with a recently validated multiparameter deconvoluti on algorithm, to estimate the endogenous half-life of b-LH, its secret ory burst frequency, amplitude, duration and mass. Oligoasthenospermic men exhibited significant (p < 0.05) alterations within the LH axis; namely: (1) a prolonged half-life of b-LH (92 min in euspermic men, 12 7 min in oligoasthenospermic men); (2) a reduced b-LH secretory burst amplitude (2.2 +/- 1.2 IU/l/min in euspermic men, 1.7 +/- 0.8 IU/l/min in oligoasthenospermic men); (3) a lower bioactive/immunoactive (b/i) ratio for LH secretory burst amplitude (14 in euspermic men, 4 in oli goasthenospermic men); (4) a reduced b/i ratio in the mass of LH secre ted per burst (5.4 in euspermic men, 4.1 in oligoasthenospermic men) a nd (5) decreased coordinate release ofb-LH and testosterone in inferti le men, as assessed by cross-correlation analysis. These disturbances differ-from the neuroendocrine dysregulation described in other states of male hypogonadotrophism.