ABSTRACT
Assay of testosterone in female serum is preferable under clinical conditions to assay of the hormone in urine. This is because the urinary metabolite assayed, testosterone glucuronoside, is derived from both testosterone and prehormones, some of the latter being converted and conjugated by one passage through the liver. Technological advances have resulted in the reporting of various techniques for the determination of serum testosterone. The antiserum to testosterone-3-bovine serum albumin that the authors utilize has approximately 53% cross-reaction with dihydrotestosterone in the female testosterone range. Dihydrotestosterone arises by the peripheral conversion of testosterone and by direct secretion. The vast majority of females with hirsutism have an unexplained excessive testosterone production of ovarian and/or adrenal origin. Virilization of the external genitalia rarely occurs in these individuals. Although menstrual disturbances with polycystic ovaries frequently occur in these individuals, the finding of polycystic ovaries does not necessarily implicate them as the source of excessive androgen.
