Three new asterosaponins 1-3 and four known saponins 4-7 have been isolated from the starfish Asterias amurensis LÜTKEN. By means of high magnetic field 1D- and 2D-NMR ((1)H-(1)H correlation spectroscopy (COSY), total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY), heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence (HMQC), heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC), heteronuclear multiple bond correlation (HMBC), a...

Testosterone (T) stimulates erythropoiesis and regulates iron homeostasis. However, it remains unknown whether the (type II) 5α-reduction of T to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) mediates these androgenic effects, as it does in some other tissues. Our purpose was to determine whether inhibition of type II 5α-reductase (via finasteride) alters red blood cell (RBC) production and serum markers of iron h...

High-affinity binding of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to the androgen receptor (AR) initiates androgen-dependent gene activation, required for normal male sex development in utero, and contributes to prostate cancer development and progression in men. Under normal physiologic conditions, DHT is synthesized predominantly by 5α-reduction of testosterone, the major circulating androgen produced by th...

The apical Na(+)-dependent bile salt transporter (ASBT/SLC10A2) is essential for maintaining the enterohepatic circulation of bile salts. It is not known when Slc10a2 evolved as a bile salt transporter or how it adapted to substantial changes in bile salt structure during evolution. We characterized ASBT orthologs from two primitive vertebrates, the lamprey that utilizes early 5α-bile alcohols ...

Benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer can be treated with the 5α-reductase inhibitors, finasteride and dutasteride, when pharmacodynamic biomarkers are useful in assessing response. A novel method was developed to measure the substrates and products of 5α-reductases (testosterone, 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), androstenedione) and finasteride and dutasteride simultaneously by liquid ...

Steroid 5α-reductase is the enzyme that converts testosterone to 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Two isoenzymes have been identified, namely type 1 and type 2 [1]. The conversion of testosterone to DHT is irreversible and the androgenic potency of DHT was shown to be at least 2–5 times stronger than that of testosterone [2, 3]. The hyperactivity of this enzyme is, therefore, supposed to play an i...

The androgen receptor (AR) is known to play critical roles in the malignancy of prostate cancer as well as the management of male reproductive organs. Endometrial carcinoma, one of the major female cancers, is considered an androgen-related cancer. However, the importance of androgen signaling through its receptor in endometrial carcinomas has not yet been clarified. We recently demonstrated th...

BACKGROUND The clinical spectrum of 5α-reductase deficiency, caused by mutations in the SRD5A2 gene, ranges from complete female appearance of the external genitalia at birth to nearly complete male phenotype. CASE REPORT A 14-year-old girl presented with primary amenorrhea (PA) and lack of breast development. She was 173 cm in height, had an increased amount of pubic hair and clitoromegaly (...

The purposes of the present study were to establish a noninvasive monitoring assay of fecal progestagen measurement to detect pregnancy and to identify the components of fecal progestagens in early, middle and late pregnancy in cheetahs. Feces were collected from 7 female cheetahs and analyzed from 30 days before the last copulation to parturition in 9 pregnancies. Blood was collected from one ...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that has no cure because its etiology still unknown, and main treatment the administration of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors. The study mechanism action this family compounds critical for design new more potent specific In work, we molecular basis an uncompetitive inhibitor (compound 1, 2β, 3α-dihydroxy-5α-cholestan-6-...