Gonadotrophin and gonadal steroid response to a single dose of a long‐acting agonist of gonadotrophin‐releasing hormone in ovulatory and anovulatory women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

These data provide evidence for ovarian hypersecretion of androgens in ovulatory, as well as anovulatory women with PCO, supporting the concept of abnormal regulation of 17-hydroxylase and (17,20-lyase activity in the ovary. The finding of an equal degree of hyperandrogenaemia in ovPCO and anovPCO groups, even though LH levels were much higher in the latter, suggests that hypersecretion of LH is not the primary cause of ovarian hyperandrogenism. Hyperandrogenism in PCOs may therefore represent an intrinsic abnormality of ovarian theca-interstitial cell function.