Effects of oestradiol on sex hormone binding globulin.

Sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels were studied for possible effects of oestradiol-17 beta on SHBG. No change in SHBG plasma was recorded during normal menstrual cycles or during treatment with oestradiol-17 beta to menopausal women. However, gonadotrophin treatment to amenorrhoeic women to induce ovulation resulted in high oestradiol concentrations and a pronounced increase in SHBG was found during the luteal phase of these cycles. A marked increase of SHBG was also recorded in a woman with pronounced fluctuations of oestradiol during treatment with levonorgestrel sc implants for contraception. In conclusion, effects on SHBG were only found when extraordinarily high levels of plasma oestradiol were recorded.