Abstract
Amenorrhea is one of the early symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Detailed analyses of the 24-h sleep-wake pattern of gonadotropin secretion (Pirke et al. 1979) and of the luteinizing hormone (LH) response to synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) (Beumont et al. 1976) have revealed a strict weight dependence of gonadotropin secretion in anorexia nervosa. Further support for the assumption that the decrease of gonadotropin secretion may not be a primary feature of anorexia nervosa but a consequence of starvation and weight loss came from observations in dieting healthy female subjects (Vigersky et al. 1977) and from controlled starvation experiments in female volunteers (Fichter et al., this volume). Although the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis is probably influenced by starvation at various levels, the main dysfunction occurs at the hypothalamus. This conclusion can be drawn from studies by Marshall and Kelch (1979). In their patients ovulation could be induced by applying pulsatile LHRH doses over a period of weeks.
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© 1984 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Pirke, K.M., Spyra, B., Warnhoff, M., Küderling, I., Dorsch, G., Gramsch, C. (1984). Effect of Starvation on Central Neurotransmitter Systems and on Endocrine Regulation. In: Pirke, K.M., Ploog, D. (eds) The Psychobiology of Anorexia Nervosa. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69594-0_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69594-0_6
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