Altered luteinizing hormone pulsatility in infertile patients with idiopathic oligoasthenozoospermia

In a previous study, we demonstrated that oligoasthenozoospermic(OAZ) patients had two types of testosterone response to humanchorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) administration: group 1 (OAZ-1)had an altered, monophasic (no first peak) response, and group2 (OAZ-2) had a normal biphasic response. The objective of thepresent work was to study the luteinizing hormone (LH) pulsatilityin OAZ-1 compared with both OAZ-2 and men of proven fertility(PF), in order partly to determine the possible aetiology ofthe blunted acute testosterone response to HCG in these patients.LH pulsatility was measured in 10 PF, 10 OAZ-1 and 10 OAZ-2patients, in blood samples taken every 5 min for 6 h in PF,and for 4 h in OAZ patients. LH values were determined by atime-resolved immunofluorometric assay. Frequency and amplitudeof the LH pulses were determined by a computer program. LH pulsefrequency, expressed as pulses/4 h, was significantly lowerin OAZ-1 (1.5 ± 0.97) than in PF (2.4 ± 0.63)and OAZ-2 (2.4 ± 0.84) patients. In six OAZ-1 and twoOAZ-2 patients, LH pulsatility was diminished, as they showedless than two pulses/4 h. No statistically significant differencesin LH pulse amplitude were found. These results, together witha higher number of OAZ-1 cases found with decreased LH pulsatility,suggest that, at least in a subset of these men, quantitativeand/or qualitative alterations of LH secretion might have occurred.