Choriionic gonadotrophin is produced by trophoblastic tissue. In pregnancy raised serum levels are associated with increased urinary excretion. The excretion of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) is significantly raised within one week of the first missed period, reaches a peak by the tenth week, and falls thereafter to the twentieth week (Fig. 1). In the second half of pregnancy levels fluctu...

Many hormones that are central to normal reproductive functioning mediate their physiological effects by activating a receptor which belongs to the large family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). Members of this family of receptor proteins are usually glycosylated on extracellular domains. In recent years the role of this glycosylation in cell surface expression/protein folding, ligand reco...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels in early follicular phase throughout the reproductive years. METHOD FSH and LH concentrations were determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Linear and polynomial regressions were carried out considering basal FSH as the dependent and age as the independent variable. RESULTS FSH levels increased thr...

A retrospective analysis was performed on 64 cycles stimulated with human menopausal gonadotrophin and/or pure follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and oestrogen (E2) levels. The increase in serum E2 on the day of HCG administration did not correlate (r = 0.05) with the number of preovulatory oocytes (preovs) or with an increase or decrease in serum FSH (r = 0.31). However, the change in serum FS...