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TWENTY‐FOUR HOUR PROFILES OF SERUM PROLACTIN DURING MALE PUBERTY WITH AND WITHOUT GYNAECOMASTIA
Author(s) -
LARGE D. M.,
ANDERSON D. C.,
LAING I.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
clinical endocrinology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1365-2265
pISSN - 0300-0664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2265.1980.tb02713.x
Subject(s) - prolactin , medicine , endocrinology , androgen , delayed puberty , gynecomastia , testosterone (patch) , hormone
Twenty‐four hour profiles of circulating prolactin have been documented in eight boys with simple delayed puberty, eleven with gynaecomastia, three of whom were retested following its spontaneous resolution, and two normal adult men. Mean 24 h prolactin levels in four boys with delayed puberty and ten with gynaecomastia exceeded the mean levels for the two adult men. A sleep‐associated rise in prolactin levels occurred at all stages of puberty irrespective of the presence or absence of gynaecomastia, and in some subjects peaks also occurred during the daytime. Boys with gynaecomastia had higher 24 h mean levels of prolactin ( P < 0·05), higher daytime levels ( P < 0·05) and higher sleep‐associated levels ( P < 0·05) than did control subjects. These were not related to the degree or duration of the gynaecomastia, but 24 h mean levels of prolactin and oestradiol were positively correlated. In one subject who had had transient galactorrhoea, high levels of circulating prolactin, oestrone and oestradiol fell following spontaneous resolution of the gynaecomastia. We believe that oestrogen: androgen imbalance during the daytime is the major cause of pubertal gynaecomastia, with hyperprolactinaemia (which may cause galactorrhoea) sometimes occurring as a response to relative hyperoestrogenaemia.