[A luminescent cytological method of the determination of sex gonad hormonal activity in males].

A method for assessing gonadal hormonal activity in men is suggested. It consists in fluorescent and cytologic examinations of navicular fossa epithelium making use of a fluorescent marker (acridine orange) and is based on specific sensitivity of navicular fossa epithelium to male sex hormones, because navicular fossa is formed in the course of embryogenesis from the urogenital sinus under the effect of androgen induction. Navicular fossa epithelium reacts to changed androgen/estrogen ratio by restructuring which is characterized by cellular apparatus regression or depression. Parallel with the cytologic reaction, blood androgen levels were measured in patients and normal subjects. The authors have developed a classification singling out four basic and four intermediate epithelial reactions. The suggested method was used in examinations of 327 patients with various andrologic abnormalities and of 96 healthy men. Examinations have demonstrated a high diagnostic value of this method in assessment of the hormonal balance (androgens and estrogens) in men and the possibility of using it as a screening test in andrologic abnormalities.