Lack of correlation of serum estradiol with growth velocity during male pubertal growth

Abstract

Abstract. The adolescent growth spurt in boys is under hormonal control. It is accepted that androgens and growth hormone contribute to male pubertal growth, but the role of estrogens is uncertain even though low-dose estradiol administration stimulates growth in prepubertal boys. In the present work, the correlation of serum testosterone and serum estradiol with growth velocity was studied in 16 pubertal normal boys. The study included correlations of growth velocity with serum nonsex hormone-binding globulin-bound testosterone and with serum nonsex hormone-binding globulin-bound estradiol, which are parameters of serum bioavailable sex hormones. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between serum testosterone and growth velocity but not between serum estradiol and growth velocity. These findings are against the hypothesis that estrogens play a growth promoting role during male puberty.