LH and FSH
Reads: Follicle-stimulating hormone
The Pulse Pattern Carries the Information: LH Secretion is not Continuous but Pulsatile, with peaks every 90 to 120 minutes, Highest in the Morning Hours - and in Older Males These Bursts Decrease. Aging degrades the rhythm, not only the level.
What this marker reads
Luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone — LH drives Leydig testosterone, FSH drives Sertoli spermatogenesis.
What a named body publishes
Each line below is the sentence the issuing body wrote, carried with its own identifier. Nothing here interprets your result — it states what was published, for whom, and by whom.
FSH
“FSH: in 20 normally cycling women aged 20-36 sampled across the cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT analyzer, the early follicular 5th-95th percentile interval was 3.91-8.76 IU/L (median 6.42).” females, 20-36 y, early follicular phase (days -15 to -6 relative to LH peak)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“FSH: late follicular 5th-95th percentile interval 2.97-6.99 IU/L (median 4.66).” females, 20-36 y, late follicular phase (days -5 to -1)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“FSH: on the day of the LH peak the 5th-95th percentile interval was 5.30-15.07 IU/L (median 12.82).” females, 20-36 y, day of LH peak (day 0)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“FSH: early luteal 5th-95th percentile interval 3.02-11.09 IU/L (median 5.62).” females, 20-36 y, early luteal phase (days +1 to +4)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“FSH: mid luteal 5th-95th percentile interval 1.48-5.31 IU/L (median 3.14).” females, 20-36 y, mid luteal phase (days +5 to +9)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“FSH: late luteal 5th-95th percentile interval 1.14-5.64 IU/L (median 2.85).” females, 20-36 y, late luteal phase (days +10 to +14)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“FSH: in a retrospective cohort of 11,929 men, the reference interval derived from the 4,595 men with normal semen parameters was 1.70-7.60 IU/L (median 3.98).” males
Re-assessment of the close relationship between serum FSH levels and semen quality: a retrospective cohort study of 11,929 Chinese men · Endocrine 2024;84(1):265-272, published online 29 November 2023 DOI 10.1007/s12020-023-03617-y
“FSH: the ESHRE guideline diagnoses premature ovarian insufficiency on 'oligo/amenorrhea for at least 4 months, and an elevated FSH level > 25 IU/l on two occasions > 4 weeks apart'.” females
Management of women with premature ovarian insufficiency — summary document · European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, December 2015 The document
LH
“LH: early follicular 5th-95th percentile interval 2.01-7.80 IU/L (median 3.96).” females, 20-36 y, early follicular phase (days -15 to -6 relative to LH peak)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“LH: late follicular 5th-95th percentile interval 3.24-14.68 IU/L (median 5.68).” females, 20-36 y, late follicular phase (days -5 to -1)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“LH: on the day of the LH peak the 5th-95th percentile interval was 21.16-73.63 IU/L (median 41.19).” females, 20-36 y, day of LH peak (day 0)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“LH: early luteal 5th-95th percentile interval 3.65-18.03 IU/L (median 7.86).” females, 20-36 y, early luteal phase (days +1 to +4)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“LH: mid luteal 5th-95th percentile interval 1.05-9.73 IU/L (median 3.88).” females, 20-36 y, mid luteal phase (days +5 to +9)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
“LH: late luteal 5th-95th percentile interval 0.51-6.98 IU/L (median 2.75).” females, 20-36 y, late luteal phase (days +10 to +14)
Establishment of detailed reference values for luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, and progesterone during different phases of the menstrual cycle on the Abbott ARCHITECT® analyzer · Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) · 2006 DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2006.160
Your laboratory reads your result against its own assay, and this page does not do that for it. What is above is what a named body published and for whom; what is below is the machinery the marker reads and the formulas witnessed on it.
What moves it
Reproductive trigger raises it.
GnRH acts on the pituitary to secrete luteinizing hormone. PMC9113536
Testosterone lowers it.
Negative feedback - the arcuate nucleus is under negative control of testosterone and its metabolites. PMC9113536
Cellular aging lowers it.
In older males these bursts decrease - aging degrades the pulse, not only the level. PMC9113536
Prolactin lowers it.
Loss of GnRH pulsatility reduces pituitary LH and FSH secretion. doi 10.1210/clinem/dgac208 · PMID 3105612 · PMC5686678
What it moves
It raises Testosterone.
LH binds Leydig cell receptors, raising cAMP and driving StAR and CYP11A1 expression. PMC9113536
It raises Men's hormone balance.
The gonadotropin output is the proximate driver of male hormonal status. PMC9113536
It raises Male fertility.
FSH acts on Sertoli cells to drive spermatogenesis. PMC9113536
It raises Reproductive axis.
The pituitary arm of the axis. PMC9113536
It raises Female fertility.
The central finding is that reactive oxygen species ARE required, not merely harmful: ROS in the ovary regulate ovarian steroid hormone production, follicle synthesis, maturation, ovulation, and tubal function. ROS and antioxidant levels regulate the microenvironment of the follicular fluid, which determines which follicle becomes dominant. ROS can trigger ovulation in mature GRAAF follicles, and any change in this ROS level can disrupt ovulation. So an antioxidant claim here cuts both ways - the requirement is redox homeostasis, not suppression. Excess oxidative stress damages the oocyte through mitochondrial dysfunction, follicular atresia, meiotic errors, DNA damage and telomere shortening; too little disrupts the ovulatory trigger itself. Scale: infertility affects approximately 10-15 percent of couples, with nearly half the cases attributed to female reproductive dysfunction. doi 10.3390/antiox12081490 · PMID 40712896 · PMC10666387
It raises Temperature stability in menopause.
Drawn from reviews of neighboring outcomes rather than from studies of this outcome itself, which is weaker evidence, and the map marks it so. Sources: PMC10870088; PMC12685915. doi 10.1016/j.ajog.2006.06.078. · PMC10870088
Formulas that modulate it
Each formula page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
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