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STEROID RESPONSES TO ACTH IN WOMEN WITH POLYCYSTIC OVARIES
Author(s) -
HAGUE W. M.,
HONOUR J. W.,
ADAMS J.,
VECSEI P.,
JACOBS H. S.
Publication year - 1989
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.1365-2265.1989.tb00433.x
Subject(s) - endocrinology , medicine , congenital adrenal hyperplasia , pregnenolone , dehydroepiandrosterone , basal (medicine) , polycystic ovary , hydrocortisone , androsterone , steroid , radioimmunoassay , biology , androgen , hormone , insulin resistance , insulin
SUMMARY Sixty‐three women with ultrasonically detected polycystic ovaries (PCO) were investigated for a disorder of adrenal steroid biosynthesis. Serum was obtained before, and at 30 and 60 min after, the administration of 250 μ g tetracosactrin, and assayed for 17α‐OH‐progesterone, 21‐deoxycortisol, 17α‐OH‐pregnenolone and dehydroepiandrosterone by radioimmunoassay following paper chromatography. Results were compared with those in 11 women with normal ovaries, seven adult females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21‐hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD), and 15 women heterozygous for this defect. Although the basal‐peak steroid concentration differences were significantly greater when ACTH tests were conducted between 1400 and 1700 h than between 0900 and 1000 h, absolute peak steroid concentrations were not different at either time of day. Four of 63 (6.4%) women with PCO had responses to ACTH characteristic of non‐classical (late onset) 21OHD CAH, and about half the remainder had responses characteristic of 21OHD heterozygotes. There was no clear cut evidence for a deficiency in 3β‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity in women with PCO.