Cited by 154Sperm and Testicular FunctionHormonal and reproductive studiesHypothalamic control of reproductive hormones

Low-Dose Human Chorionic Gonadotropin Maintains Intratesticular Testosterone in Normal Men with Testosterone-Induced Gonadotropin Suppression

Coviello, Andrea D., Matsumoto, Alvin M., Bremner, William J., Herbst, Karen L., Amory, John K., Anawalt, Bradley D., Sutton, Paul R., Wright, William W. +4 more·2005·The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

Abstract

In previous studies of testicular biopsy tissue from healthy men, intratesticular testosterone (ITT) has been shown to be much higher than serum testosterone (T), suggesting that high ITT is needed relative to serum T for normal spermatogenesis in men. However, the quantitative relationship between ITT and spermatogenesis is not known. To begin to address this issue experimentally, we determined the dose-response relationship between human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and ITT to ascertain the minimum dose needed to maintain ITT in the normal range. Twenty-nine men with normal reproductive physiology were randomized to receive 200 mg T enanthate weekly in combination with either saline placebo or 125, 250, or 500 IU hCG every other day for 3 wk. ITT was assessed in testicular fluid obtained by percutaneous fine needle aspiration at baseline and at the end of treatment. Baseline serum T (14.1 nmol/liter) was 1.2% of ITT (1174 nmol/liter). LH and FSH were profoundly suppressed to 5% and 3% of baseline, respectively, and ITT was suppressed by 94% (1234 to 72 nmol/liter) in the T enanthate/placebo group. ITT increased linearly with increasing hCG dose (P < 0.001). Posttreatment ITT was 25% less than baseline in the 125 IU hCG group, 7% less than baseline in the 250 IU hCG group, and 26% greater than baseline in the 500 IU hCG group. These results demonstrate that relatively low dose hCG maintains ITT within the normal range in healthy men with gonadotropin suppression. Extensions of this study will allow determination of the ITT concentration threshold required to maintain spermatogenesis in man.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1210/jc.2004-0802

Cites

40 of 40 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • hCG has been used with concurrent exogenous testosterone to maintain intratesticular testosterone levels and preserve spermatogenesis.

    “hCG has also been used with concurrent exogenous testosterone to maintain intratesticular testosterone levels and preserve spermatogenesis (73).”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Coviello, A. D., Matsumoto, A. M., Bremner, W. J., Herbst, K. L., Amory, J. K., Anawalt, B. D., Sutton, P. R., Wright, W. W., Brown, T. R., Yan, X., Zirkin, B. R., & Jarow, J. P.
Affiliations
  • University of Washington (US)
  • VA Puget Sound Health Care System (US)
  • Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (US)
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
Corresponding author
Coviello, Andrea D.
Venue
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
Published
2005-05
Volume
90
Issue
5
Pages
2595-2602
ISSN
  • 0021-972X (ISSN-L)
  • 1945-7197
OpenAlex
W2105435245
Cited by
154
References
40
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 9
FWCI
4.22
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ResearchWorks at the University of Washington (University of Washington) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (5u54hd012629-31, 5u54hd036209-05, 5r01hd044258-05)
  • National Center for Research Resources (M01-RR 00037, M01RR000037)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD 44258, T32 HD07453, U54HD042454, U54HD42454, U54-HD-12629, T32HD007453, U54-HD-36209)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Sperm and Testicular Function
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Hormonal and reproductive studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
Keywords
human chorionic gonadotropin, intratesticular testosterone, testosterone enanthate, gonadotropin suppression, dose-response relationship, testicular fluid, spermatogenesis, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, testicular biopsy, healthy men
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Follicle Stimulating Hormone, Chorionic Gonadotropin, Humans, Luteinizing Hormone, Male, Middle Aged, Regression Analysis, Testis, Testosterone

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review