Three boys, with precocious sexual development at 1 to 4 years of age, had low basal plasma gonadotropin values without pubertal-type pulsatility and a minimal rise in luteinizing hormone after acute stimulation with luteinizing hormone releasing factor or its potent analog D-Trp6-Pro9-NEt-LRF, distinguishing them from boys with true precocious puberty.
These events appear to be nongonadotropin-dependent in view of the absence of a pubertal pattern of pulsatile LH secretion, persistence of a prepubertal LH response to LRF even after long standing sexual precocity, prepubertal basal levels of LH and undetectable hCG, and the absence of biologically active LH-hCG by bioassay.