Abstract
Objective: Aim of the study was to investigate the presence of underlying abnor malities affecting the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis in 13 normal weight eumenhorreic bulimics as expressed by a different gonadotropin response to gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), comparing patients with (n= 6) and without (n= 7) purging behaviours to controls (n= 5) Method: Subjects were administered an intravenous GnRH infusion for four hours, with an additional bolus at first and third hour. Results: Non-purging bulimics showed a significantly reduced luteinizing hormone (LH) response to GnRH compared to controls; purging bulimics following the second bolus, demonstrated a statistically reduced peak, in comparison to both controls and non-purging bulimics. Discussion: even in the absence of overt menstrual distur bances, an altered LH secretion elicited by pulsatile stimulation of endogenous GnRH was found, with a more severe impairment in purging than in non-purging bulimics, possibly related to their greater psychopathological and physical burden.
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Ramacciotti, C.E., Guidi, L., Bondi, E. et al. Differential dynamic responses of luteinizing hormone to gonadotropin releasing hormone in patients affected by bulimia nervosa-purging versus non-purging type. Eat Weight Disord 2, 150–155 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03339966
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03339966