THE EFFECT OF DANAZOL AND THE LHRH AGONIST ANALOGUE GOSERELIN (ZOLADEX) ON THE BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF LUTEINIZING HORMONE IN WOMEN WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS

P Maouris, M Dowsett, Mitch Dowsett, G Rose, Gillian Rose, D. Keith Edmonds, D K Edmonds, Claire Rothwell, C Rothwell, W R Robertson
Clinical endocrinology · 1990 · vol. 33(4) , pp. 539–546 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2265.1990.tb03891.x · PMID:2146047 · W2160159308
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 5 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Danazol treatment in women with endometriosis suppressed estradiol but did not alter LH/FSH levels or bioactive LH, while goserelin suppressed all measured hormones and downregulated the pituitary.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

SUMMARY In an attempt to determine whether the suppression in oestradiol levels caused by danazol is due to an effect on the hypothalamic‐pituitary axis, we compared the endocrine effects of danazol with those of the LHRH (GnRH) agonist analogue goserelin. Serum levels of immunoreactive LH (I‐LH), FSH, 17β‐oestradiol (E 2 ) and bioactive LH (B‐LH) (using a mouse Leydig cell bioassay), were measured in ten and 20 women with endometriosis treated with danazol and goserelin, respectively. I‐LH was measured both by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and immunoradiometric assay (IRMA). During 6 months of treatment with 600 mg of danazol daily, mean serum E 2 decreased ( P <0.05) to levels near the upper limit of the post‐menopausal range (to a mean (and 95% confidence interval of the mean) of 117 (65–169) pmol/1) whereas FSH, I‐LH (both by RIA and IRMA) and B‐LH levels were not significantly altered. During 6 months of treatment with monthly depot injections of 3–6 mg goserelin, mean serum E 2 decreased ( P <0.001) to well within the post‐menopausal range (to 23 (18–28) pmol/1). The mean FSH, I‐LH and B‐LH levels also decreased ( P <0.05) during therapy with goserelin (from 3.9 (3–1–4.7) to 2.0 (1.6‐2.4) IU/1 for FSH, from 5.3 (4.5–6.1) to 1.9 (1.7–2.1) IU/1 for RIA‐LH, from 2.9 (2.5–3.3) to <0.5 (<0.5) IU/1 for IRMA‐LH and from 9.1 (7.1–11.1) to 2.9 (2.6–3.2) IU/1 for B‐LH). The bioactive to immunoreactive (B:I) RIA LH ratio was altered during the first month of treatment with both drugs, increasing with danazol from 1.6(1.3.1.9) to 2.0(1.7‐2.3) ( P <0.05) and decreasing with goserelin from 1.7 (1.5‐1–9) to 1.4 (1.2–1.6) ( P <0.05). The data indicate that danazol causes a relatively hypo‐oestrogenic state which cannot be attributed to a decrease in the immunoreactive gonadotrophin levels or to a decrease in the biological activity of LH and is associated with an increase in B: ILH ratio. In contrast, goserelin acts on the pituitary to produce suppression of gonadotrophin levels and effective down‐regulation of the pituitary.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Buserelin Danazol Endometriosis Luteinizing Hormone Adult Buserelin Buserelin Danazol Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Estradiol Estradiol Female Follicle Stimulating Hormone Follicle Stimulating Hormone Goserelin Humans Luteinizing Hormone Luteinizing Hormone

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (36)

Cited by (5)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:12:05.481982+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK