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GIANNI FORTI, VINCENZO TOSCANO, DANIELA CASILLI, MARELLA MARODER, RINA BALDUCCI, M. VITTORIA ADAMO, SALVATORE SANTORO, G. ANDREA GRISOLIA, ANGIOLINO PAMPALONI, MARIO SERIO, Spermatic and Peripheral Venous Plasma Concentrations of Testosterone, 17-Hydroxyprogesterone, Androstenedione, Dehydroepiandrosterone, Δ5-Androstene-3β, 17β-Diol, Dihydrotestosterone, 5α-Androstane-3α,17β-Diol, 5a-Androstane-3β,17β-Diol, and Estradiol in Boys with Idiopathic Varicocele in Different Stages of Puberty, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 61, Issue 2, 1 August 1985, Pages 322–327, https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem-61-2-322
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Abstract
Serum testosterone (T), 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17P), androstenedione (Δ4-dione), dehydroepiandrostefone (DHA), Δ5-androstene-3β,17β-diol (Δ5-diol), estradiol (E2), dihydrotestosterone (DHT), 5α-androstane-3α,17β-diol (3αdiol), and 5α-androstane-3β,17β-diol (3βdiol) were measured in the peripheral and spermatic venous blood of 21 boys undergoing surgery for idiopathic left varicocele. The boys were divided into 3 groups according to their pubertal development: prepubertal (group 1 or Pi; n = 8), pubertal stage 2 (group II or P2; n = 6), and pubertal stages 3–4 (group III or P3-4; n = 7). The testes of the prepubertal boys secreted T, 17P, DHA, Δ5-diol, DHT, and 3αdiol, but not Δ4-dione, E2, and 3βdiol. In pubertal stage P2, the mean spermatic-peripheral secretory gradients of T, 17P, DHA, Δ5-diol, DHT, and 3αdiol were significantly higher than those in the prepubertal stage, and there was testicular secretion of Δ4-dione, E2, and 3βJdiol. In pubertal stage P3–4, the mean spermatic-peripheral secretory gradients of most of these steroids, even if increased, were not significantly different from those in stage P2 (with the exception of 17P, Δ6-diol, and DHA). We suggest that after the important modifications of testicular secretion occurring in pubertal stage P2, the testicular secretory pattern of the pubertal testis is similar to the pattern of the adult testis. We suggest also that these results, obtained in boys with idiopathic varicocele, can probably be extended to the secretory activity of the testes of normal pubertal boys.