Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: To investigate the relationship between serum growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels, seminal plasma GH and IGF-1 levels, and sperm parameters in acromegalic patients.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 24 acromegaly patients (acromegaly group), 11 non-functioning adenoma (NFA) patients (NFA group), and 16 healthy men (control group). Seminal plasma GH and IGF-1 levels were measured. Semen parameters and seminal plasma hormone levels were compared. Mediation analysis using SPSS PROCESS macro was performed to evaluate the relations between serum and seminal plasma GH/IGF-1 levels and sperm parameters.

Results: Acromegaly group had higher levels of serum GH (0.475 IQR[0.245 -0.770] mg/l) compared to NFA (0.08 IQR[0.054 - 0.260] mg/l) and control groups (0.08 IQR[0.03 - 0.159] mg/l) (P<0.001). Although seminal plasma GH levels were higher in acromegaly group (114 ± 82 pg/ml) than NFA (43 ± 19 pg/ml) and control groups (61 ± 39 pg/ml) (P=0.004), seminal plasma IGF-1 showed no difference among groups (P=0.203). The serum GH was positively correlated with seminal plasma GH (r = 0.530, P< 0.001). The mediation analyses showed that serum GH directly affected sperm count (β=80.2, P=0.0026), and this effect was not mediated by an increase in seminal plasma GH (β=0.06, P=0.720).

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that sperm count may be negatively affected in acromegalic patients despite intact hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, and this association could be linked to elevated serum GH levels rather than increased seminal plasma GH. While our study provided important preliminary data regarding the seminal plasma GH and IGF-1 levels, the underlying the specific effects of seminal plasma GH and IGF-1 on testicular function of acromegaly patients require more in-depth research.