Pituitary Hormones.

The anterior pituitary gland releases a range of hormones with various functions around the body.

Luteinising hormone (LH) and Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) are known as gonadotrophins because they act on the gonads (testes or ovaries) to release the sex hormones and induce fertility.

LH causes the testes to produce testosterone or the ovaries to produce progesterone and eventually oestrogen.

FSH causes the testes to produce sperm or the ovaries to stimulate egg production.

Even though the terms LH and FSH come from their effects in females they are identical hormones in male and females.

One form of fertility treatment is the administration of these pituitary hormones to stimulate egg and sperm production.
This is achieved by giving pituitary hormones via subcutaneous or intramuscular injections normally two or three times a week.

The hormones, LH and FSH, can be given individually or in combination depending on the circumstances of each person.

The amounts of LH and FSH released by the pituitary are very small. In people with Kallmann‘s syndrome and other forms of HH the levels of LH and FSH are very low or not even detectable. It is one of the key diagnostic tests used to confirm KS and HH.

Obtaining a natural supply of LH and FSH from pituitary glands is next to impossible as the levels produced are low even in “normal” individuals.

However there are two other natural sources of LH and FSH available.

Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG)
Human menopausal gonadotrophin (hMG)

These two hormones are produced naturally by women at certain stages in their lives and in enough quantities that they can be easily harvested and purified. They have the same actions as LH and FSH.

hCG is secreted by the placenta of pregnant women. It is an early form of LH and is used by the developing foetus. Excess hCG s readily excreted into the urine in early pregnancy and can be collected and purified to be turned into medicine. This excess hCG in the urine is the basis of home detection pregnancy tests.

Common trade names of hCG include:

Choragon
Pregnyl
Profasi
Chorex
Choron

hMG is a mixture of LH and FSH in equal quantities and is produced from the urine of menopausal women. It can be used instead of hCG and has the advantage of being a combination of both pituitary hormones.

Common trade names of hMG include:

Menopur
Merional
Fostimon

FSH is also available in a recombinant (manufactured) form with:

Gonal-F
Follistim
Pergoversi
Puregon