Gonadotropins and steroid hormones in older people: their mutual connections and relations to body mass indices
, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3
Abstract
Introduction: Aging in mammals, including man, is accompanied by deep changes in hormone secretion. In the majority of cases, hormone secretion (mostly of gonadal steroids and adrenocortical hormone dehydroepiandrosterone — DHEA) undergoes pronounced decrease. This decrease is thought to contribute to the progression of aging. In contrast, the secretion of gonadotropins is sharply increased in older adults, as a result of gonadal deficiency. Recent data indicate that gonadotropin excess may also, by itself, influence the aging process. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mutual relation between steroid hormones and gonadotropins and their effect on body mass indices in older people.
Material and methods: In a group of 100 patients (61 women and 39 men) aged over 75 years, blood serum concentrations of folliclestimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), oestradiol (E2), testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAs), and cortisol were measured. All the patients were measured for the following: body weight (kg), body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2), and waist-to-height ratio (WtHR). The differences of the numerical data were evaluated by Student’s t-test and the correlations between them by means of Pearson’s test.
Results and conclusions: The most interesting finding of this study was to show that FSH and LH are negatively correlated with body mass and indices such as BMI and WtHR in older women. Because in older women the mediation of ovary is unlikely, we conclude that gonadotropins may influence the body mass by their direct extra-gonadal action.
Keywords: human aginggonadotropinstestosteroneoestradiolDHEAscortisolbody mass indices
References
- Warren MP, Ng EPS. Menopause . In: Karasek MP. ed. Aging and age-related diseases: The basics. Nova Biomedical, New York 2006: 5–29.
- Medras M, Karasek M. Andropause. In: Aging and age-related diseases: the basics. Nova Biomedical, New York 2006: 31–46.
- Pawlikowski M, Karasek M. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in aging. In: Karasek M. ed. Aging and age-related diseases: the basics. Nova Biomedical, New York 2006: 65–81.
- Pawlikowski M. Is gonadotropin excess involved in the process of aging? A hypothesis. Folia Medica Lodzensia. 1994; 21: 137–145.
- Pawlikowski M. The effect of gonadal and gonadotropic hormones on the prostatic ganglion and superior cervical ganglion in male white rats. Acta Med Pol. 1962; 3: 171–183.
- Roels H. he effect of some pituitary hormones on volume and DNA content of cell nuclei of the adrenal cortex in hypophysectomized-castrated rats. Exp Cell Res. 1963; 31: 407–415.
- Mikolajczyk H, Pawlikowski T. Histologic changes in the adrenal cortex of hypophysectomized-gonadectomized rats treated with gonadotrophins or adrenocorticotrophin. Endokrynol Pol. 1965; 16(4): 359–369.
- Komorowski J, Pawlikowski M, Stepień H. Pituitary glycoprotein hormones and interleukins secretion. In vitro and in vivo human study. Ann NY Acad Sci. 1995; 762: 429–431.
- Pabon JE, Li X, Lei ZM, et al. Novel presence of luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin receptors in human adrenal glands. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1996; 81(6): 2397–2400.
- Lasley B, Conley A, Morrison J, et al. Identification of Immunoreactive Luteinizing Hormone Receptors in the Adrenal Cortex of the Female Rhesus Macaque. Reprod Sci. 2016; 23(4): 524–530.
- Korol P, Jaranowska M, Pawlikowski M. Immunohistochemical demonstration of LH/CG receptors in non-neoplastic human adrenal cortex and adrenocortical tumors. Folia Histochem Cytobiol. 2019; 57(1): 23–27.
- Lei ZM, Rao CV, Kornyei JL, et al. Novel expression of human chorionic gonadotropin/luteinizing hormone receptor gene in brain. Endocrinology. 1993; 132(5): 2262–2270.
- AL-Hader AA, Lei ZM, Rao CV. Neurons from fetal rat brains contain functional luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin receptors. Biol Reprod. 1997; 56(5): 1071–1076.
- Apaja PM, Harju KT, Aatsinki JT, et al. Identification and structural characterization of the neuronal luteinizing hormone receptor associated with sensory systems. J Biol Chem. 2004; 279(3): 1899–1906.
- Barron AM, Verdile G, Martins RN. The role of gonadotropins in Alzheimer's disease: potential neurodegenerative mechanisms. Endocrine. 2006; 29(2): 257–269.
- Webber KM, Casadesus G, Bowen RL, et al. Evidence for the role of luteinizing hormone in Alzheimer disease. Endocr Metab Immune Disord Drug Targets. 2007; 7(4): 300–303.
- Casadesus G, Rolston RK, Webber KM, et al. Menopause, estrogen, and gonadotropins in Alzheimer's disease. Adv Clin Chem. 2008; 45: 139–153.
- Bhatta S, Blair JA, Casadesus G. Luteinizing Hormone Involvement in Aging Female Cognition: Not All Is Estrogen Loss. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2018; 9: 544.
- Robinson LJ, Tourkova I, Wang Y, et al. FSH-receptor isoforms and FSH-dependent gene transcription in human monocytes and osteoclasts. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010; 394(1): 12–17.
- Wang J, Zhang W, Yu C, et al. Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Increases the Risk of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis by Stimulating Osteoclast Differentiation. PLoS One. 2015; 10(8): e0134986.
- Sun Li, Peng Y, Sharrow AC, et al. FSH directly regulates bone mass. Cell. 2006; 125(2): 247–260.
- Chin KY. The Relationship between Follicle-stimulating Hormone and Bone Health: Alternative Explanation for Bone Loss beyond Oestrogen? Int J Med Sci. 2018; 15(12): 1373–1383.
- Pawlikowski M. Direct actions of gonadotropins beyond the reproductive system and their role in human aging and neoplasia. Endokrynol Pol . 2019; 70(5): in press.
- Vermeulen A, Kaufman JM, Goemaere S, et al. Estradiol in elderly men. Aging Male. 2002; 5(2): 98–102.
- Saxena AR, Seely EW. Luteinizing hormone correlates with adrenal function in postmenopausal women. Menopause. 2012; 19(11): 1280–1283.
- Romer TE. Effect of FSH and chorionic gonadotropins on the morphological pattern of brown fat tissue in rats. (in Polish). Endokrynol Pol. 1964; 15: 643–649.
- Liu P, Ji Y, Yuen T, et al. Blocking FSH induces thermogenic adipose tissue and reduces body fat. Nature. 2017; 546(7656): 107–112.
- Liu XM, Chan HC, Ding GL, et al. FSH regulates fat accumulation and redistribution in aging through the Gαi/Ca(2+)/CREB pathway. Aging Cell. 2015; 14(3): 409–420.
