Salivary testosterone: a reliable approach to the diagnosis of male hypogonadism

Summary Objetive The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that Sal-T is a reliable biomarker of androgen status in the diagnosis of male hypogonadism. Design In order to validate the salivary testosterone assay (Sal-T), its reproducibility , the agreement with serum free testosterone levels (Fre...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Arregger, Alejandro Luis, Contreras, Liliana Noemí, Tumilasci, Omar Rene, Aquilano, Daniel R, Cardoso, Estela M. del Luján
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2007
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/111684
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/111684
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:salivary testosterone
diagnosis
male hypogonadism
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/3.2
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/3
Descripción
Sumario:Summary Objetive The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that Sal-T is a reliable biomarker of androgen status in the diagnosis of male hypogonadism. Design In order to validate the salivary testosterone assay (Sal-T), its reproducibility , the agreement with serum free testosterone levels (Free-T) , the correlation with other circulating androgen markers ( bioavailable testosterone , total testosterone) and  cut off values were defined. Patients and Methods We studied 52 eugonadic (E) and 20 hypogonadic (Hy) men. Sal-T was assayed using an adapted radioimmunoassay for serum testosterone. Sal-T concentrations were compared in 9 cases before and after citric acid stimulation of salivary flow-rate.  Free-T and bioavailable testosterone (Bio-T) were calculated by Vermeulen equation  and SHBG were determined by binding assay. Results Sal-T did not depend on  salivary flow-rate and morning samples from 7.00 to 9.00 h were stable. Agreement between Sal-T and Free-T measurements was confirmed in all subjects .  Sal-T levels correlated positively with  all circulating androgens , showing the best correlation with Free-T in E (r=0.92) as well as in Hy (r=0.97).A cutoff value  for Sal-T  £ 0.195 nM  showed 100% of sensibility and specificity to rule out hypogonadism. Conclusions Our data showed  that Sal-T is a reliable marker of testosterone bioavailability. The results support the inclusion of this biomarker as a non invasive approach in the diagnosis of male androgen deficiency.