{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,20]],"date-time":"2026-09-20T02:32:05Z","timestamp":1789871525749,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":["eje.bioscientifica.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Eur J Endocrinol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2002,7,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>BACKGROUND: Several studies have indicated that cryptorchidism is associated with degenerative changes in both Sertoli cells and germ cells. The gonadal peptide hormone inhibin B reflects Sertoli cell function. Low inhibin B levels are found in a large portion of formerly cryptorchid men who show compromised seminiferous tubule function. It is not known if inhibin B can be used to demonstrate early damage of seminiferous tubules in prepubertal boys with cryptorchidism. METHODS: We investigated the relationship between serum levels of inhibin B, testosterone, FSH and LH in 62 prepubertal boys with uni- and bilateral cryptorchidism. Furthermore, we investigated the changes in serum levels of inhibin B and the corresponding changes in serum levels of FSH, LH and testosterone during a short course (3 weeks) of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) injections in 18 of these cryptorchid boys. RESULTS: In the 62 prepubertal boys with uni- or bilateral cryptorchidism there were no significant differences in baseline levels (median and range) of inhibin B (88 (20-195) pg\/ml vs 78 (35-182) pg\/ml; not significant), LH (0.08 (&lt;0.05-0.99) IU\/l vs 0.06 (&lt;0.05-1.61) IU\/l; not significant) and FSH (0.60 (0.08-3.73) IU\/l vs 0.85 (0.25-2.55); not significant) compared with 156 healthy prepubertal boys, and there were no differences in hormonal levels between boys with uni- or bilateral cryptorchidism. There was no correlation between baseline levels of inhibin B and FSH. In boys younger than 9 years, we found no correlation between baseline levels of inhibin B and LH whereas, in boys older than 9 years, baseline levels of inhibin B were positively correlated to baseline LH (Spearman rank correlation coefficient ((R(s))=0.58, P=0.03). Treatment with hCG (1500 IU intramuscularly twice weekly for 3 weeks) resulted in descensus of testes in 9 out of 18 patients. In all boys but one, irrespective of age, hCG induced a marked increase in testosterone into the adult range (from undetectable to 21.8 (7.0-35.4) nmol\/l; P&lt;0.001) and completely suppressed FSH and LH levels. Serum levels of inhibin B increased significantly from 116 (50-195) pg\/ml to 147 (94-248) pg\/ml (P&lt;0.05), but not uniformly. The increase in serum levels of inhibin B was inversely correlated to baseline inhibin B (Rs=-0.52, P=0.03) and baseline FSH (R(s)=-0.59, P&lt;0.01). CONCLUSIONS: We therefore suggest that, in the prepubertal testes, inhibin B is secreted from the prepubertal Sertoli cells following hCG, whereas early pubertal testes with more differentiated Sertoli cells are not able to secrete inhibin B in response to hCG stimulation, perhaps due to lack of germ cell-derived betaB-subunits. We found (a) normal inhibin B levels in prepubertal boys with uni- or bilateral cryptorchidism, (b) that hCG stimulated testosterone markedly and suppressed FSH and LH levels and (c) that hCG treatment stimulated inhibin B levels in the youngest cryptorchid boys. In the oldest prepubertal boys no hCG-induced changes in inhibin B were shown.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1530\/eje.0.1470095","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2005,1,24]],"date-time":"2005-01-24T21:34:41Z","timestamp":1106602481000},"page":"95-101","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1530\/crossmarkpolicy-1","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":39,"title":["Serum inhibin B, FSH, LH and testosterone levels before and after human chorionic gonadotropin stimulation in prepubertal boys with cryptorchidism"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"147","author":[{"given":"P","family":"Christiansen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"AM","family":"Andersson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"NE","family":"Skakkebaek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A","family":"Juul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","container-title":["European Journal of Endocrinology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/eje.bioscientifica.com\/view\/journals\/eje\/147\/1\/95.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/eje.bioscientifica.com\/view\/journals\/eje\/147\/1\/95.xml","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,14]],"date-time":"2023-02-14T16:31:17Z","timestamp":1676392277000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/ejendo\/article\/147\/1\/95\/6753557"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2002,7,1]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1"},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1530\/eje.0.1470095","relation":{},"ISSN":["0804-4643","1479-683X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0804-4643","type":"print"},{"value":"1479-683X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2002,7,1]]}}}