The sensibility of the hypophysis, the gonads and the thyroid of adolescents before and after the administration of oral contraceptives. A resume.

This research shows that the adenohypophysis of the adolescent differs from that of the adult by sensibility variations vis-a-vis of LHRH and TRF in relation to the growing rates of the ovarian steroids and their actions on the steroid and peptide receptors of the hypophyseal cells. During the first few years after the menarche, the increasing secretion of estradiol provokes a greater secretion of the four adenohypophyseal hormones both before and after LHRH and TRF. As the adolescent grows older, the increasing amounts of progesterone in relation to the increasing amounts of estradiol reduce the sensibility of the hypophysis to the releasing hormones; the release of its trophic hormones and prolactin is diminished. This would indicate that the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian system undergoes progressive maturation for a number of years after the menarche. The sensibility of the adolescent pituitary, ovary, and thyroid during the luteal phase of the first menstrual cycle after oral contraceptives have been discontinued is the same in girls who have taken oral contraceptives for 24 months or longer as it is in girls who are five to six years after the menarche and have not taken oral contraceptives.