What Are Gonadotropins? Gonadotropins are fertility drugs that
contain follicle stimulation hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone
(LH) or a combination of the two, used to stimulate ovulation.
They are known informally as injectables, as they are
administered by injection only. Gonadotropins also exist
naturally in the body, playing a pivotal role in ovulation. A
related drug, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is often part
of fertility treatment with gonadotropin injections. You may
know hCG as the pregnancy hormone, but it also happens to be
molecularly similar to LH. In a natural cycle, LH triggers
ovulation. As part of fertility treatment, an injection of hCG
may be used to trigger ovulation. There are two basic types of
gonadotropins: recombinant gonadotropins and urinary-extracted
gonadotropins (which include human menopausal gonadotropins
(hMG), purified FSH and highly purified FSH.) Recombinant
gonadotropins are created in a laboratory using recombinant DNA
technology, while urinary-extracted gonadotrop