Longitudinal Changes in Circulating Testosterone Levels Determined by LC-MS/MS and by a Commercially Available Radioimmunoassay in Healthy Girls and Boys during the Pubertal Transition

Abstract

Background: Accurate and selective assessment of testosterone requires use of a sensitive LC-MS/MS method, especially at low levels as those seen in young children. Methods: The present longitudinal study of 20 healthy children from the Copenhagen Puberty Study followed every 6 months for 5 years evaluates the longitudinal increase in serum testosterone before, during and after pubertal onset quantified by a newly developed LC-MS/MS method in comparison with immunoassay. Testosterone concentrations in serum samples (n = 177) were determined by LC-MS/MS (detection limit 0.1 nmol/l) and by immunoassay (detection limit 0.23 nmol/l). Results: Serum concentrations of testosterone increased gradually with age by both methods. However, serum testosterone was quantifiable in 9/10 girls prior to pubic hair development measured with LC-MS/MS, and in 2/10 girls measured with immunoassay. In boys, testosterone was quantifiable in 10/10 boys 1 year prior to pubic hair development measured with LC-MS/MS, and only in 1/10 boys measured with immunoassay. Serum testosterone levels were quantifiable 1.5 years (range 0.5-2.5) earlier using LC-MS/MS. Conclusion: Assessment of longitudinal circulating levels of serum testosterone using a selective LC-MS/MS method proved to be more sensitive in predicting early peripubertal changes in healthy children compared to levels determined by immunoassay.

Urinary Sex Steroids and Anthropometric Markers of Puberty - A Novel Approach to Characterising Within-Person Changes of Puberty Hormones

“…As these urine data are novel we are unable to compare with any previously published data, notably the degree of individual variability. Mouritsen and colleagues have shown that serum testosterone is variable in a longitudinal study of 20 adolescents (10 male) with sample collection biannually for five years [ 28 ]. Individual hormone curves showed testosterone levels fluctuated during the study, though the overall pattern demonstrated an increase in serum hormones testosterone (as assayed by LC-MS/MS and immunoassay) from recruitment to the end of follow-up.…”

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“…Tukey-Kramer post-hoc statistics (q=2.648; α=0.05) showed significant differences in nail testosterone levels between men and boys (difference 1.758; P<0.0001). These results support previous findings reported in the literature where testosterone concentrations are higher in men and women than in boys and girls (Andersson et al 1997;Mouritsen et al 2014). In this analysis, we found a two-fold difference between men and women's testosterone levels.…”

Towards the validation of endogenous steroid testing in wildlife hair

“…Though steroid hair testing has been developing for wider use over the past decade, our literature search showed that most wildlife and domestic animal studies only measured cortisol in hair. The validation of other steroids, such as testosterone, may provide additional information on topics such as reproductive ecology (Bryan et al, 2014), social status (Koren et al, 2006), potential growth (Mouritsen et al, 2014), and social behaviours (e.g., Finkler & Terkel, 2010;Salas et al, 2016).…”