[Radioimmunological method of determining prolactin in human blood plasma. The statistical basis of the method and determination of the hormone content in healthy persons of both sexes and in sterility patients].

Radioimmunoassay was used for determination of the prolactin level in human plasma. The assay was standardized and statistically evaluated; it proved to be a delicate and unsophisticated method. The basal prolactin content was determined in normal subjects of both sexes. The mean error in the hormonal level in the blood of females in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle was higher than that in males; this coincides with the data obtained by other authors and may be due to favourable effect of estrogens on prolactin secretion in connection with the hypothalamic inhibitory factors of prolactin release. Examination of a group of patients suffering from sterility (males with idiopathic oligospermia) showed that in 57% patients the prolactin content was increased. These facts may point to the importance of this hormone for the pathogenesis of male sterility. In women suffering from functional sterility the blood plasma prolactin level was 20.07 +/- 17.63 ng/ml (662.31 +/- 581.8 mku/u). In 38% of them hyperprolactinemia was detected; these indices surpass those obtained by other scientists. This is, probably, due to a combination of galactorrhea and infertility in 10 of the 26 examined women. It is assumed that the data obtained may be useful for further studies into the pathogenesis of both male and female sterility.