Differences in urinary excretion patterns of the hLH beta core fragment in premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal women.

Abstract

The heterodimeric luteinizing hormone beta core fragment (hLH beta cf) is a highly stable urinary analyte reflective of circulating hLH. It is measured easily because of its high molar content and has none of the multiple isoforms and subunit dissociation problems of LH urinary measurements. As part of a long-term effort to develop new biochemical assays to stage women during the perimenopausal transition, we have examined the patterns of urinary excretion of this metabolite of hLH in premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal women. We measured the concentration of the hLH beta cf in 10 consecutive first morning void urine specimens from premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal women. Day 1 of collection was the first day of menses in the cycling women. Postmenopausal women exhibited a widely fluctuating pattern of LH beta core fragment excretion, which is not correlated with hLH measured by immunofluorometric assay or with follicle-stimulating hormone measured by immunofluorometric assay. The postmenopausal group was easily distinguished from premenopausal women on the basis of an area-under-the-curve concentration function. Perimenopausal women displayed intermediate hLH beta cf concentrations; some clearly were in postmenopausal ranges, and others were in the premenopausal ranges. The pattern of excretion and concentrations of the hLH beta cf is significantly different between premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Perimenopausal women exhibited intermediate changes. The capability to measure this type of stable urinary metabolite as a reflection of changes in dynamics of its parent circulating hormone offers new possibilities in the development and application of large-scale testing that does not require blood sampling.