Salivary testosterone concentrations in prepubertal and pubertal males: comparison with total and free plasma testosterone.
Salivary testosterone (T) levels in male children and adolescents were measured and compared with plasma T. Salivary concentrations correlated well with plasma total T (r = 0.72) and even better with free plasma T (r = 0.89) in subjects with plasma T levels of pubertal or adult levels (greater than 1.0 nmol/l). In subjects with prepubertal or low plasma T (less than 1.0 nmol/l), there was neither a correlation with plasma total, nor with free T. In hCG tests (responder and nonresponder), salivary T reflected plasma levels faithfully. The results suggest that salivary T, which is suitable for repeated sampling, is a good marker of T secretion in pubertal males.
Ohzeki
T
T
Department of Pediatrics, University of Zurich, Kinderspital, Switzerland.
Manella
B
B
Gübelin-De Campo
C
C
Zachmann
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D011627:Puberty / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*
D013739:Testosterone