Pharmacological‘rescue’of the Corpus Luteum Results in Increased Inhibin Production

Inhibin production by the corpus luteum was investigated by undertaking pharmacological rescue of the corpus luteum with hCG in four healthy women. Blood samples were collected daily for two menstrual cycles. Starting 7 days after the LH surge in the second cycle, incremental doses of hCG (125-8000 IU) were administered daily for 7 days resulting in hCG levels comparable to those seen in normal pregnancy. Following hCG, the luteal phase was prolonged and there were significant increases in the plasma concentrations of inhibin (P less than 0.05), and oestradiol (P less than 0.05). The progesterone concentration was maintained at the mid-luteal phase peak and as a result was significantly higher than those on the equivalent days of the control cycle (P less than 0.05). It was concluded that rescue of the corpus luteum with physiological levels of hCG resulted in a significant output of inhibin, thus suggesting that the corpus luteum is a significant source of inhibin in early pregnancy.