Low-dose growth hormone-releasing factor may enhance folliculogenesis in regularly menstruating women: a preliminary study.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of low-dose GH-releasing factor (GRF) on folliculogenesis in regularly menstruating women.

Design: Prospective clinical trial where individual patients served as their own control.

Setting: Outpatient Reproductive Endocrine/Infertility Clinic of the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.

Alterations in the sensitivity of serum insulin-like growth factor 1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 to octreotide in polycystic ovary syndrome.

Objective: To determine if the somatostatin analog, octreotide, affects insulin and related peptides and, hence, androgen levels differently between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients and controls.

Design: Prospective controlled trial.

Setting: Reproductive endocrinology clinic of our medical center.

Altered responses to stress in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization and recipients of oocyte donation.

Clinical impressions suggest the presence of considerable anxiety and depression in infertile couples. We utilized a psychological stress test to assess adaptations to provoked stress to improve the psychological profile of infertile women. A psychological stress test was administered to four groups: normal menstruating females (controls, n = 13); oocyte donors (n = 13); recipients of oocyte donation (n = 7); and women undergoing standard in-vitro fertilization (IVF; mean age 38.

The route of administration influences the effect of estrogen on insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women.

Objective: To determine the effect of transdermal estrogen on insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women and to compare this effect with changes observed with oral conjugated equine estrogens.

Design: Fourteen postmenopausal women were randomized to receive a transdermal E2 patch, 0.1 mg, for 25 days each month (n = 7) or transdermal E2 with added medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), 10 mg, from days 16 to 25 each month (n = 7).

Comparison of estimates of insulin sensitivity in pre- and postmenopausal women using the insulin tolerance test and the frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test.

Objective: We assessed insulin sensitivity in women comparing the insulin tolerance test (ITT) with the intravenous glucose tolerance test with frequent sampling and computer modeling (FSIVGTT) and evaluated the effects of hormonal therapy in postmenopausal women using both methods.

Methods: This prospective study tested 18 premenopausal women and ten postmenopausal women randomized to receive either estrogen alone or estrogen with a sequential progestin for 6 months at a menopause research clinic. All subjects received an ITT and an FSIVGTT within 48-72 hours of each other in random sequence.

The effect of progestins on behavioral stress responses in postmenopausal women.

Objective: We assessed the effects of progestin when added to estrogen on the adaptive patterns to provoked stress in postmenopausal women.

Methods: Fourteen postmenopausal women were randomized to receive either a transdermal estrogen patch (TE2) (n = 7) for 6 weeks or TE2 with added medroxyprogesterone acetate (10 mg) (TE2/MPA) (n = 7) for the last 10 days of the 6-week regimen. Behavioral stress tests were administered to each group, with measurements of biophysical and neuroendocrine responses.

Insulin sensitivity is decreased in normal women by doses of ethinyl estradiol used in oral contraceptives.

Objective: We determined the independent effects of various doses of ethinyl estradiol used in oral contraceptives or norethindrone acetate, as well as their combination, on insulin sensitivity in normal women.

Study Design: Thirty-three normal ovulatory female volunteers were recruited for this study. Insulin tolerance tests were performed after carbohydrate loading to determine the kinetic disappearance of glucose and insulin.

A possible bimodal effect of estrogen on insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women and the attenuating effect of added progestin.

Objective: To determine the effects of estrogen and of added progestin on carbohydrate tolerance in postmenopausal women.

Design: An insulin tolerance test (ITT) was used to assess insulin resistance in healthy post-menopausal women and to determine the effects of oral estrogen with and without added progestin on insulin sensitivity.

Setting: A menopause research clinic at a University Medical Center.

Behavioral stress responses in premenopausal and postmenopausal women and the effects of estrogen.

Objective: Our purpose was to determine the pattern of reactivity to stress in premenopausal and postmenopausal women and to assess the effects of estrogen.

Study Design: A behavioral stress test was given to premenopausal (n = 13) and postmenopausal women (n = 36). Biophysical and neuroendocrine responses were measured during and on completion of the stress test.

Short-term effects of smoking on the pharmacokinetic profiles of micronized estradiol in postmenopausal women.

Because smoking is associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis, yet a decreased risk of endometrial carcinoma, a state of relative hypoestrogenism induced by smoking has been suggested. However, because previous data are unclear and do not reflect current trends in smoking intensity and estrogen prescriptions, we examined the estrogen profiles of postmenopausal women, by smoking status, both before and after oral micronized estradiol. Baseline levels of estrone, estradiol, estrone sulfate, and estrone glucuronide were similar in nonsmokers and smokers, but unbound (non-sex-hormone-binding-globulin--bound) estradiol was significantly lower in smoking women (p less than 0.

Decreased in vitro production of 6-keto-prostaglandin F1 alpha by uterine arteries from postmenopausal women.

Cessation of ovarian function is associated with a marked increased in morbidity and mortality secondary to ischemic heart disease. Estrogen replacement has been shown to impart protection against ischemic heart disease. We hypothesized that estrogen may influence vascular production of vasodilators such as prostacyclin.

A randomized comparison of nonoral estradiol delivery in postmenopausal women.

We compared the transdermal and subdermal routes of estrogen administration with respect to the constancy of estrogen delivery and metabolic effects. Twenty postmenopausal women were randomized to receive either two 25 mg estradiol pellets subdermally (n = 10) or a 0.1 mg estradiol transdermal patch twice weekly (n = 10).