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Altered glycosylation of pituitary gonadotropins in anorexia nervosa: an alternative explanation for amenorrhea

Tommaselli AP, Valentino R, Savastano S, Randazzo G, Scalfi L, Contaldo F, Dorato M, Lombardi G. Altered glycosylation of pituitary gonadotropins in anorexia nervosa: an alternative explanation for amenorrhea. Eur J Endocrinol 1995;132:450–5. ISSN 0804–4643

To investigate the relevance of glycoprotein polymorphism to gonadotropin bioactivity in vivo, plasma follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), 17β-estradiol (E₂), testosterone and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels in 17 amenorrheic women affected with anorexia nervosa (14–29 years) and 10 age-matched normally cycling women were evaluated. Plasma FSH and LH levels were assayed using radioimmunoassay (RIA) and immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) methods, before and after concanavalin A–Sepharose (Con A) affinity chromatography. Significant RIA–IRMA differences in FSH and LH plasma values were present only in women with anorexia nervosa (p < 0.005). Moreover, in these patients both FSH and LH showed a reduced binding to the Con A, expressed as a percentage of unbound, suggesting altered glycosylation of these moieties. In conclusion, these findings hypothesize the involvement of glycosylation polymorphism in RIA-IRMA differences; support the usefulness of both RIA and IRMA methods in FSH and LH evaluation, before and after Con A chromatography; and suggest a new pathogenetic pathway to explain amenorrhea in anorexia nervosa.

Antonio P Tommaselli, Chair of Endocrinology, University Federico II, via Pansini, 5, 80131-Naples, Italy

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