Gonadotropic Substance in Urine of Normal Children

Abstract

By utilizing the synergistic activity of certain pituitary extracts when combined with gonadotropic hormone, such as has been demonstrated on ovarian stimulation with pregnancy urine,1 Evans2 has been able to detect otherwise unappreciable amounts of gonadotropic substance in the urine of normal males. Because of this synergism and because it also resembled pregnancy urine, in causing a marked luteinization in the ovaries of his test animals, Evans referred to the gonadotropic substance in male urine as a “prolan body”.It has also been shown that a follicle stimulating substance, similar to the gonadotropic material occurring in the urine of castrates, is present in amounts of several rat units to the 24-hour excretion in the urine of normal adults, both male and female.3 This follicle stimulating hormone has been reported to be absent from the urine of children before puberty.3 We wish to report the finding of the “prolan” type of gonadotropic substance in the urine of children after the age of 4-5 years...