AI Article Synopsis

  • The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a sensitive immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) for measuring LH levels in children undergoing different sexual maturation processes, comparing it with a standard radioimmunoassay (RIA).
  • Findings showed that LH IRMA levels were notably low in prepubertal children, while levels increased significantly with maturation stages, especially in pubertal groups, unlike the RIA method which did not show significant differences across some groups.
  • The research established a strong correlation between serum LH IRMA levels and testosterone in boys during puberty, indicating that the IRMA assay may provide more accurate diagnostic information than the RIA method.

Article Abstract

To determine the diagnostic potential of a highly sensitive immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) for LH in children with normal puberty or altered tempo of sexual maturation, we compared serum LH levels by IRMA (LH IRMA) and standard RIA (LH RIA) in children with idiopathic precocious thelarche (IPT; n = 6), idiopathic premature adrenarche (IPA; n = 14), central precocious puberty (CPP; n = 15), and constitutional delay of puberty (DP; n = 15), and 160 control children (79 males and 81 females). Subjects in the latter group were staged, according to their genital or breast development, as early prepubertal (P1E; age, less than 8 yr), late prepubertal (P1L; 8-12 yr), or stage II-V (P2-P5; n = 22-34 for each subgroup). Serum LH IRMA levels in P1E, IPT, and IPA children were either undetectable (95% of subjects less than 0.25 IU/L) or barely detectable (5% of subjects, less than or equal to 0.5 IU/L). Serum LH IRMA levels were greater than 0.5 IU/L in 38% of P1L (mean +/- SD for the group, 1.0 +/- 1.3 IU/L) and 57% of P2 (1.4 +/- 1.3 IU/L); they were greater than 1.0 IU/L in 100% of P3 (2.6 +/- 1.3 IU/L), P4 (3.9 +/- 2 IU/L), and P5 (8.6 +/- 4 IU/L) children. Comparison of serum LH levels between contiguous pubertal stages showed significantly higher LH IRMA concentrations in P3 vs. P1E, P4 vs. P2, P5 vs. P4 (all P less than 0.001), and P3 vs. P1L (P less than 0.05). In contrast, LH RIA values were not significantly different in P1E (2.0 +/- 0.6 IU/L), P1L (2.3 +/- 0.6 IU/L), P2 (2.7 +/- 0.9 IU/L), P3 (3.2 +/- 1.3 IU/L), and P4 (3.7 +/- 2.2 IU/L), although they were higher in P5 (6.8 +/- 4 IU/L) than in P4 (P less than 0.001). From P1E to P5 LH IRMA levels increased 38-fold in females and 21-fold in males, while LH RIA increased 4- and 2.1-fold, respectively. Serum LH IRMA correlated significantly with serum testosterone levels in boys from P1L to P5 (r = 0.76; P less than 0.001), while LH RIA levels did not (r = 0.18). Serum LH IRMA concentrations were above the prepubertal range (greater than 0.5 IU/L) in 67% of children with CPP (group average, 1.8 +/- 1.4 IU/L) and 87% of children with DP (1.6 +/- 1.4 IU/L).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jcem-72-4-888DOI Listing

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