Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M H Kim.
A modified rapid,solid-phase radioimmunoassay for serum luteinizing hormone requiring only 1 1/2 hours of incubation is presented. The method has been used to predetermine the time of ovulation in six infertile patients. Its advantages are presented in these cases. The simplicity and accuracy of the method make it practical, and it can serve well in the management of infertility.
Obesity, oligomenorrhea, and hirsutism are frequently associated with high plasma androgen levels and/or low testosterone-binding globulin (TEBG) levels. Studied have been undertaken to determine the extent to which each of these clinical features may be related to this hormonal profile. Indexes of plasma free (unbound) androgen levels were focused upon because this fraction appears to be the biologically active portion of the plasma androgens. The hormonal profile was normal in women with either obesity or oligomenorrhea alone and abnormal in those with severe hirsutism alone. On striking new finding was that subjects with the combination of obesity and oligomenorrhea had elevated plasma total and free androgens and depressed TEBG even in the absence of hirsutism. Furthermore, the androgen levels were higher in obese oligomenorrheic women with mild hirsutism than in severely hirsute women who were not obese. Plasma estradiol concentrations were normal in these obese women. A simple explanation for elevated free plasma androgen levels in obese women who were oligomenorrheic yet had little if any hirsutism is not possible. The data are compatible with the concept that obesity is a variably expressed manifestation of slightly elevated plasma free androgen levels or that obesity is an incidental finding which somehow blunts the effect of high androgen levels on hair follicles. Regardless of the explanation, oligomenorrheic obese women must be suspected of having high androgen production even in the absence of hirsutism.
Three young women with primary ovarian failure, secondary amenorrhea or oligo-ovulation, and normal gonadotropin levels are reported on here. Vaginal cytology and serum estradiol levels indicated the two women to be persistently hypoestrogenic. The third case, who had the Turner phenotype, was hypoestrogenic during anovulatory cycles but occasionally ovulated. Basal serum LH and FSH were normal. All were tested with synthetic LH-releasing hormone and had a brisk response, LH levels rising 51-198 ng/ml above baseline and FSH rising 278-536 ng/ml. Plasma levels of testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and progesterone were normal. Gonadal dysgenesis was suggested in two on the basis of an abnormal karyotype, and isochromosome of the short arm of X in Case 2, and an isochromosome of the long arm of X in Case 3. The diagnosis of primary hypogonadism was established by laparoscopy and ovarian biopsy. The latter studies revealed small ovaries with a scarcity of primordial and primary follicles, yet with evidence of current or previous follicular activity. The observation that hypoestrogenism was so marked in two of our patients that elevated serum FSH would have been expected, suggests that the presence of a limited number of ovarian follicles suffices to prevent hypergonagotropism in hypoestrogenic women by a mechanism which does not involve elaboration of sex steroids.
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The adsorption of a number of methylated uracil derivatives and of 5-fluorouracil has been studied by surface electrochemical methods at a mercury electrode. All derivatives exhibit an initial or dilute adsorption region where they are adsorbed flat on the electrode surface and are bound by pi-electron overlap with the electrode. Uracil, thymine, 1,5-dimethyl-uracil, 5,6-dimethyluracil, 1,5,6-trimethyluracil and 5-fluorouracil undergo a surface reorientation from the initial flat solution activities for each compound. An unsubstituted N(3)-H group is an absolute requirement for a uracil derivative to be capable of adopting the perpendicular surface stance. In the perpendicular orientation the uracil derivative appears to be bound to the electrode primarily via a N(3)-H--(-) electrode bond although a similar but weaker hydrogen bond can be formed via the N(1)-H group for certain compounds.
Prolactin present in maternal blood, fetal blood, and amniotic fluid samples obtained simultaneously at term was examined. The relative concentrations of prolactin in maternal and fetal serum samples were found to vary with each individual case. However, amniotic fluid samples contained a much higher level of prolactin than did both maternal and fetal serum samples in every case. After gel filtration, three separate peaks of immunoreactive prolactin were observed, probably representing three different sizes of the hormone molecule. The main component was small prolactin, constituting at least 69% of the total prolactin immunoreactivity in blood samples and 90% in amniotic fluids. Prolactin was found to be very similar in cord venous and arterial sera, both quantitatively and in terms of heterogeneity. There were more noticeable differences in the percentages of medium and small prolactin present in serum samples than in amniotic fluid samples. Big prolactin was present in all samples; its percentage in maternal serum was slightly higher than its percentages in the other samples. These results suggest that: 1) The mother and fetus carry on independent secretion of prolactin during gestation. 2) The size heterogeneity of prolactin in amniotic fluid differs from maternal hPRL to a greater degree than it does from fetal hPRL. 3) The prolactin in amniotic fluid appears to be of fetal origin.
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