Citation

Mello NK, Mendelson JH, Teoh SK. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1989; 562: 211-240.

Affiliation

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, Harvard Medical School-McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts 02178.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2662859

Abstract

Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are associated with a broad spectrum of reproductive system disorders. Amenorrhea, anovulation, luteal phase dysfunction, and ovarian pathology may occur in alcohol-dependent women and alcohol abusers. Luteal phase dysfunction, anovulation and persistent hyperprolactinemia have also been observed in social drinkers studied under clinical research ward conditions. The mechanisms underlying alcohol-related disruptions of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian-adrenal axis are unknown. The reproductive consequences of alcohol abuse and alcoholism range from infertility and increased risk for spontaneous abortion to impaired fetal growth and development. Recent studies of alcohol's effects on pituitary gonadotropins and on gonadal, steroid and adrenal hormones in women are reviewed. Research on the acute effects of alcohol on opioid antagonist and synthetic LHRH-stimulated pituitary gonadotropins is summarized. The implications of alcohol's effects on reproductive hormones for impairment of fetal growth and development are discussed.

Language: en