Summary and conclusions Leydig-cell function was assessed in 27 men with acute mumps orchitis by measuring plasma testosterone concentrations before and after the administration of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG). The test was also performed on groups of patients with other febrile viral infections and mumps without orchitis and on healthy euspermic men. The concentrations both before and after HCG were significantly lower in patients in the acute phase of mumps-but not in those with other viral infections and mumps without orchitis-than in the healthy men. Basal concentrations of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH) were significantly increased in patients with acute mumps orchitis, while an exaggerated response to LH-releasing hormone was noted in four patients after the acute phase of the disease. Raised plasma LH concentrations were also found in several patients with viral infections, including mumps without orchitis. There appeared to be no particular merit of any of the treatments used

The endocrine milieu on which spermatogenesis and sperm maturation mainly depend was evaluated quantitatively with simultaneous measurements of FSH, LH, PRL, testosterone, estrone, estradiol (E2), and sex hormone-binding globulin concentrations in spermatic venous plasma, antecubital plasma, seminal fluid, and wash fluid from vas deferens in 16 normospermic men and 24 oligospermic patients. Anesthesia and surgical stress caused a rise of only PRL and E2 (P less than 0.001-0.01). Mean FSH, LH, and PRL levels were comparable in antecubital and spermatic venous plasma, and antecubital values were higher in oligospermic patients for FSH and LH (P less than 0.05-0.001). Mean (+/- SD) T levels were similar for normospermic and oligospermic men in spermatic venous plasma (473 +/- 75 and 439 +/- 270 ng/ml), in antecubital plasma (6.5 +/- 1.3 and 6.6 +/- 1.8), and in seminal fluid (0.3 +/- 0.1 for both). Minute quantities of testosterone were detected in pooled wash fluid (0.08 ng). For E2, similar concentration gradients from high to low levels were found in normospermic and oligospermic men (spermatic venous plasma = 926 +/- 205 pg/ml and 1090 +/- 262; antecubital plasma = 31.0 +/- 12.0 and 28.4 +/- 1.9; seminal fluid = 14.3 +/- 2.3 and 12.0 + 2.8). Estrone was also high in spermatic venous and low in antecubital plasma but higher in seminal fluid than in antecubital plasma. Sex hormone-binding globulin levels were slightly though not significantly lower in spermatic venous (23 +/- 10 nmol/liter) than in antecubital plasma (28 +/- 6), but not measurable in seminal fluid. These results define important aspects of the endocrine milieu prevailing in the male reproductive tract and demonstrate a change of the relative activity of androgens and estrogens from the testis to the seminal fluid.

The male reproductive system has the distinction that being itself hormonally active, through its endocrine secretions, at the same time is a target system receiving not only the biological action of hormones from the anterior pituitary gland but also from products of its own endocrine activity. Furthermore, the reproductive system operates in a very sophisticated fashion, with a number of interrelated functional compartments which accommodate the successive steps of a very delicate reproductive activity. In this context, as functional compartments could be defined the testicular tissue (TT) reflecting the endocrine and tubular activity of the testis, the blood of spermatic vein (SVB), reflecting indirectly the endocrine function of the gland, the peripheral blood (cubital blood\p=n-\CB), expressing the availability of hormones at tissue level, the hormone content of the vas deferens fluid, expressing the endocrine environment in a part of the tract critical for sperm maturation and, finally, the seminal plasma which reflects the endocrine conditions prevailing in the semen. Although the specific function of these compartments is directly dependent on the endocrine milieu prevailing in each one of the them, there is a paucity of infor¬ mation regarding the physiological state and there¬ fore the understanding of functional distrurbances of the system in a number of aspects is quite dif¬ ficult or even impossible.The purpose of this work was the study of the endocrine activity, which is related to the reproduc¬ tive system of the man in its various functional com¬ partments and in a global fashion, covering as many endocrine parameters and compartments as possi¬ ble so that a representative picture of the overall physiological state could emerge.In this study, healthy men with inguinal hernia but no reproductive system problems as well as pa¬ tients with oligozoospermia and varicocele were studied and in this part the results of FSH, LH and prolactin (Prl) determinations in peripheral and spermatic vein blood are presented.A total of 16 normozoospermic men (N) with in¬ guinal hernia and 24 oligozoospermic men (O) with varicocele were evaluated before (60 min and in 4 O men immediately prior) and during (15-20 min) anaesthesia in CB and in SVB. Prl estimations were made using standards VLS 3 and antiserum VLS batch 3 (donated by NIADDK, U.S.A.) and FSH and LH using standard LER -907 and antiserum from the same source. The and O men were studied in the course of their treatment for inguinal hernia or varicocele ligation for infertility.The results found were as follows:Mean Prl concentrations (±SD) in CB of the 40 men showed a rise from 12.5+3.7 (pg/1) at 60 min to 20.8+14.0 immediately before (0') and was fur¬ ther increased to 79.9+18.1 during anaesthesia, showing a mean rise of 165% at 0' and 715% while on anaesthesia (Figure 1). In the men, CB Prl was 9.3±4.9 at 60 min and rose to 69.9±14.2 at 15-20 min, with SVB concentration of 60.5+11.2 at that time (Table 1). In 0 men, CB Prl was 11.4±9.3 and 60.3+21.8 at...

The concentration of testosterone in testicular tissue (TT), spermatic vein blood (SVB), cubital blood (CB), and seminal fluid (SF) was estimated using a radioimmunoassay technique in a total of 50 normospermic, oligozoospermic, and azoospermic men. Testosterone was also determined in cauda epididymis-vas deferens ductus wash fluid (WF) in 6 normospermic men. In 2 oligozoospermic men the testosterone concentration in TT was 556 and 725 ng/g tissue, respectively. In 9 normospermic men the mean SVB testosterone concentration was 473 ng/ml. CB and SF concentrations of this steroid were 6.8 and 0.4 ng/ml in normospermic, 6.4 and 0.5 ng/ml in oligozoospermic, and 4.9 and 0.4 ng/ml in azoospermic men, respectively; the difference among the three groups was not significant. The SVB:CB and SVB:SF ratios in normospermic men were 71 and 1549, respectively, while the CB:SF ratio was 18 in normospermic, 18 in oligozoospermic, and 16.6 in azoospermic men. Testosterone could not be detected in individual specimens of WF, but after pooling of samples a concentration of 0.08 ng/ml WF was estimated. These results demonstrate the relative concentrations of testosterone in the different functional compartments of the reproductive tract in man and facilitate a better understanding of its function.