Androgens play an important role in metabolic homeostasis and reproductive health in both men and women. Androgen signalling is dependent on androgen receptor activation, mostly by testosterone and 5α-dihydrotestosterone. However, the intracellular or intracrine activation of C19 androgen precursors to active androgens in peripheral target tissues of androgen action is of equal importance. Intr...

In humans the steroid 5alpha-reductase (SRD5A) family comprises five integral membrane enzymes that carry out reduction of a double bond in lipidic substrates: Δ4-3-keto steroids, polyprenol and trans-enoyl CoA. The best-characterized reaction is the conversion of testosterone into the more potent dihydrotestosterone carried out by SRD5A1-2. Some controversy exists on their possible nuclear or ...

Recently, the effect of exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on sperm concentration was only seen in men with a short androgen receptor (AR) gene CAG repeat. In order to investigate whether these effects could be observed also in vitro, we tested the impact of 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) and 1,1-bis-(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2-dichloroethene (4,4'-DDE) on 5α-dihydrotestoster...

Hypogonadism is a disease to cause decreased energy, libido loss, body hair loss, mood depression, muscle volume reduction, and hot flashes [1-3]. 5α-reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs) are administered orally for male pattern alopecia and benign prostatic hyperplasia due to decrease of dihydrotestosterone, a potent male hormone [4]. 5-ARIs are generally known not to cause hypogonadism because 5-ARIs...

OBJECTIVE Androgen excess in women is associated with visceral adiposity. However, little is known on the mechanism through which androgen promotes visceral fat accumulation. METHODS To address this issue, female mice to chronic androgen excess using 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and studied the regulation of energy homeostasis was exposed. RESULTS DHT induced a leptin failure to decrease bo...

INTRODUCTION Decreasing of testosterone level is an important part of a male elderly. MATERIAL AND METHODS To describe this phenomenon a PubMed and national databases were searched for 17β-dehydrotestosterone, common testosterone, free testosterone, 17β-estradiol, luteinizing hormone, partial androgen deficiency of aging men. RESULTS The reduction in intensity of the processes of tissue ren...

There is increasing consensus that males are more vulnerable than females to infection by several pathogens. However, the underlying mechanism needs further investigation. Here, it was showed that knockdown of androgen receptor (AR) expression or pre-treatment with 5α-dihydrotestosterone, the AR agonist, led to a considerably dysregulated Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) infection...

Pueraria mirifica (PM) extract contains phytoestrogen daidzein and genistein. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of PM extract, daidzein and genistein on a testosterone-induced prostatic hyperplasia in rats. Testosterone was administered at 3 mg kg(-1) to rats followed by the PM extract, daidzein and genistein for a period of 30 days with finasteride as positive control. The t...