Archive for Апрель 21st, 2009
SEX HORMONE LEVELS AFTER MENOPAUSE: LUTEINISING HORMONE (LH)
Best known as the hormone with final responsibility for release of the ripened egg at ovulation, it also stimulates the ovaries to produce androgens and plays a part in their conversion to oestradiol. Like FSH, LH is produced by the brain and is not just a single substance (there are more than forty slightly different forms). Before menopause, high levels of oestradiol suppress the brain’s output of LH. When oestradiol levels drop after menopause, LH levels rise. Large shifts in LH levels are associated with hot flushes. Postmenopausal LH levels peak about two years after menopause, and then gradually return to the premenopausal range during the following twenty years. The peak postmenopausal level is still less than the mid-cycle peak occurring before menopause.
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