Estrogenic activities of estradiol enantate and ethinylestradiol compared at a clinical level.

Healthy menopausic women accepted to receive two consecutive estrogenic treatments: 1. ethinylestradiol 0.030 mg/d p.o. during 21 days; 2. a single dose of estradiol enantate (estra-1,3,5(10)-triene-3-ol-17 beta-heptanoate, one of the components of Perlutal or Topasel) 10 mg i.m. Both treatments were separated by a 1-month wash-out period, without any medicine. FSH, LH and prolactin serum levels were measured in each one of the subjects by radioimmunoassay before the beginning of each treatment and for at least 14 times during 31 days thereafter. A temporary decrease of the FSH levels and a temporary increase of the prolactin levels were induced by both treatments. In this respect the estradiol enantate effect was more precocious but the quality and the magnitude of the responses were similar among the two substances. The LH profile evolution was different: there was a decrease under estradiol enantate, but a very sharp increasing peak was observed on the 17th day under ethinylestradiol. By comparing the obtained results no significant statistical differences between the estrogenic potencies of the therapeutic schemes applied were found.