SERUM GONADOTROPIN AND TESTOSTERONE LEVELS IN UREMIC MALES UNDERGOING INTERMITTENT DIALYSIS

Twenty-six adult males with uremia due to chronic renal disease were studied to determine the circulating levels of gonadotropins. In some of these patients serum testosterone levels were also measured. Patients receiving intermittent hemodialysis had higher levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) than normals, uremic patients not receiving dialysis and patients on peritoneal dialysis. Serum testosterone levels tended to be low in uremic patients. No significant alterations in follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were observed in the groups studied. Uremia seems to effect Leydig cell function without producing an associated rise in gonadotropins with the exception of an increase in LH in patients on intermittent hemodialysis. © 1969.