Luteinizing hormone in cervical mucus.

The presence of material like luteinizing hormone (LH) in cervical mucus has not been previously reported. In this study, we show that in human cervical mucus there is LH-like material detectable by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and by bioassay. The content of LH in the cervical mucus of five donors was measured by RIA in samples of mucus obtained daily throughout the menstrual cycle. The concentration of LH in mucus obtained during ovulation was lower than in mucus obtained during the early follicular phase or mucus obtained during the luteal phase. This material exhibits LH-like biologic activity because increasing volumes of cervical mucus added to isolated mice Leydig cells stimulates testosterone secretion by these cells, in a parallel dose-related fashion, to increasing quantities of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). No immunologic cross-reactivity of the cervical mucus was observed with an antiserum specific for the beta-subunit of hCG. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest the presence of an LH-like substance within the cervical mucus that exhibits both the immunologic and biologic properties of LH.