Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Nitric oxide (NO) plays a wide spectrum of biological actions including a positive role in oocyte maturation and ovulation. Free radicals have been shown elevated in PCOS and therefore would be responsible for quenching NO that, in turn, would play a role in determining oligo or amenorrhea connoting PCOS. We recently demonstrated that the combined administration of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and arginine (ARG) is able to exert an antioxidant action leading to ...

Semen quality and reproductive hormones may be affected in men with testicular neoplasia (TN) and lymphoproliferative disorders (LD). We evaluated these parameters before, 6, 12 and 24 months after the end of the oncological treatments in 60 patients with TN, and in 35 patients with LD. The patients were divided on the bases of the basal sperm concentration (A< and B≥ 10 million/ml). FSH, LH, testosterone (T) and inhibin B levels and sperm parameters were evaluated i...

Varicocele is a state of varicosity and tortuosity of the pampiniform plexus around the testis caused by retrograde blood flow. The association between varicocele and male subfertility has been questioned, thus the usefulness of treating varicocele in order to improve fertility is still a matter of debate. Inhibin B levels reflect the functional state of the seminiferous epithelium, and have been found to be a sensitive index of spermatogenesis. Serum inhibin B levels have bee...

Acylated ghrelin (AG) participates in the modulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis functions, with a predominantly inhibitory effect upon the reproductive system in animals. Animal studies have shown that ghrelin suppresses LH secretion in vivo, decreases LH responsiveness to GnRH in vitro and partially delays the timing of puberty in males. Aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of AG infusion on spontaneous and stimulated gonadotropin secret...