HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by BELISLE, S. Articles by AINMELK, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by BELISLE, S. Articles by AINMELK, Y.

Ovarian Hyperthecosis: In Vivo and In Vitro Correlations of the Androgen Profile

From the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and of Endocrinology, Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

A 36-year-old patient with secondary amenorrhea and progressive frank virilization was found by histologic examination to have ovarian hyperthecosis. Baseline androgenic investigation revealed a selective increase in testosterone (T) production rate (3.1 mg/day), which was associated with an increase in both plasma T concentration (total and unbound) and metabolic clearance rate (MCR) of T (2156 liters/day). There was a marked concentration gradient for circulating plasma T between each ovarian vein and the peripheral veins (right ovarian, 50 ng/ml; left ovarian, 21 ng/ ml). After bilateral wedge resection there was a rapid decrease in the total and unbound T levels as well as in the MCR of T, which remained normal for at least 6 months. By then the patient had stopped shaving and was menstruating normally. In vitro incubation studies of fragments from each ovary revealed incorporation of [ H]-dehydroepiandrosterone and [³H]-progesterone into [³H]-T in the range reported for normal human ovarian stroma, and short-term cellular culture suggested a normal morphology and steroidogenesis. It is concluded that in this patient with ovarian hyperthecosis, the observed increased ovarian T production resulted more from an increase in the amount of stromal-thecal tissue than from a functional biochemical defect in the latter.