Testosterone
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Testosterone
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First Aid
2024
2023
2022
2021
Burns
testosterone/methyltestosterone for p. 675
5 α-reductase
testosterone conversion p. 646
Hypogonadism
testosterone/methyltestosterone p. 675
Hypothalamus p. 507
exogenous testosterone effect p. 646
Libido
testosterone and p. 646
Luteinizing hormone (LH)
testosterone p. 675
Testosterone p. 646, 676
androgen insensitivity syndrome p. 656
cryptorchidism p. 669
Klinefelter syndrome p. 655
Leydig cell secretion p. 647
pharmacologic control p. 673
Sertoli cells p. 646
SHBG effect on p. 351
signaling pathways for p. 351
spermatogenesis p. 646
Testosterone-secreting tumors p. NaN
Testosterone synthesis p. 195
Transcript
Content Reviewers
When someone mentions testosterone, it might conjure up images of a burly alpha male.
That’s because testosterone, the primary male hormone, is an androgen, andro meaning male and gen meaning “to produce”, which means testosterone helps generate the characteristics associated with male sexuality.
The effects of testosterone are first seen in the fetus.
During the first six weeks of development, the reproductive tissues of males and females are identical,
but in week seven, genes in the sex-determining region of the Y chromosome initiate the development of testicles.
Once they form, the fetal testicles secrete testosterone which guides development of the male urogenital tract and external genitalia,
as well as testicular descent through the inguinal canal which happens in the last two months of fetal development.
The fetal ovaries also secrete testosterone but at much lower levels, and this largely explains the differences in fetal development between boys and girls.
In puberty, the hypothalamic-pituitary axis takes center stage in regulating testosterone levels and gonadal function - which are the testes in young men.
The hypothalamus secretes gonadotropin-releasing hormone which moves through the bridge between the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, called the hypothalamo-hypophyseal portal system, and gets to the anterior lobe of the pituitary.
In response, the anterior pituitary secretes luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone - two gonadotropic hormones which get secreted into the blood and reach the gonads.
Leydig cells, slowly turn cholesterol into testosterone through a number of steps, and the first step of this process is stimulated by luteinizing hormone.
Two important intermediate molecules in that process are dehydroepiandrosterone, also called DHEA, and the molecule that it gets converted into - androstenedione.
Summary
Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and an anabolic steroid. In men, it plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissue and secondary sexual characteristics. It is produced mainly in the testes and is responsible for several functions, including sexual differentiation during fetal life, and the development of primary sexual characteristics like an enlarged penis and testes, as well as secondary characteristics like a male pattern of hair growth, voice changes, and various anabolic effects.
Sources
- "Medical Physiology" Elsevier (2016)
- "Physiology" Elsevier (2017)
- "Human Anatomy & Physiology" Pearson (2018)
- "Principles of Anatomy and Physiology" Wiley (2014)
- "Biological Actions of Androgens" Endocrine Reviews (1987)
- "The benefits and risks of testosterone replacement therapy: a review" Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management (2009)
- "Testosterone, Bone and Osteoporosis" Frontiers of Hormone Research (2008)