Pituitary-gonadal and pituitary-thyroid axis hormone concentrations before and during a hypoglycemic clamp after sleep deprivation in healthy men.

Total sleep deprivation (TSD) exerts strong modulatory effects on the secretory activity of endocrine systems that might be related to TSD-induced challenges of cerebral glucose metabolism. Here, we investigate whether TSD affects the course of male pituitary-gonadal and pituitary-thyroid axis related hormones during a subsequent 240-min hypoglycemic clamp. Ten healthy men were tested on 2 different conditions, TSD and 7-hour regular sleep. Circulating concentrations of total testosterone, prolactin (PRL), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (fT3), and free thyroxin (fT4) were measured during baseline and a subsequent hypoglycemic clamp taking place in the morning. Basal, i.e. at 07:00 am measured, concentrations of total testosterone (P = 0.05) and PRL (P<0.01) were lower while the values of TSH (P = 0.02), fT3 (P = 0.08), and fT4 (P = 0.04) were higher after TSD as compared to regular sleep. During the subsequent hypoglycemic clamp (all measurements from baseline to the end of the clamp analyzed) total testosterone concentrations in the regular sleep (P<0.01) but not in the TSD condition (P = 0.61) decreased, while PRL levels increased (P = 0.05) irrespectively of the experimental condition (P = 0.31). TSH concentrations decreased during hypoglycemia (P