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Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2021Testosterone derivatives and related compounds (such as anabolic-androgenic steroids-AAS) are frequently misused by athletes (both professional and amateur) wishing to... (Review)
Review
Testosterone derivatives and related compounds (such as anabolic-androgenic steroids-AAS) are frequently misused by athletes (both professional and amateur) wishing to promote muscle development and strength or to cover AAS misuse. Even though these agents are vastly regarded as abusive material, they have important pharmacological activities that cannot be easily replaced by other drugs and have therapeutic potential in a range of conditions (e.g., wasting syndromes, severe burns, muscle and bone injuries, anemia, hereditary angioedema). Testosterone and related steroids have been in some countries treated as controlled substances, which may affect the availability of these agents for patients who need them for therapeutic reasons in a given country. Although these agents are currently regarded as rather older generation drugs and their use may lead to serious side-effects, they still have medicinal value as androgenic, anabolic, and even anti-androgenic agents. This review summarizes and revisits the medicinal use of compounds based on the structure and biological activity of testosterone, with examples of specific compounds. Additionally, some of the newer androgenic-anabolic compounds are discussed such as selective androgen receptor modulators, the efficacy/adverse-effect profiles of which have not been sufficiently established and which may pose a greater risk than conventional androgenic-anabolic agents.
Topics: Animals; Designer Drugs; Humans; Plants; Prodrugs; Steroids; Testosterone
PubMed: 33672087
DOI: 10.3390/molecules26041032 -
British Journal of Anaesthesia Mar 2022Despite substantial advocacy for the scientific community to focus on sex-specific differences in biology, the role of sex hormones remains inadequately studied in the...
Despite substantial advocacy for the scientific community to focus on sex-specific differences in biology, the role of sex hormones remains inadequately studied in the field of anaesthesia-induced developmental neurotoxicity. A recent study by Yang and colleagues published in this journal addresses the importance of studying sex hormones during critical stages of brain development. The authors demonstrate that exogenous testosterone administered to immature mice pups around the time of sevoflurane exposure increased brain levels of testosterone, attenuated tau phosphorylation, inhibited glycogen synthase kinase-3β activation and its interaction/binding with tau, reversed sevoflurane-induced decreases in neuronal activation, and attenuated cognitive impairments. Their well-designed experiments suggest an important role that testosterone plays in balancing several important pathways crucial for neuronal protection and normal function of neuronal circuits in the male mammalian brain.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Female; Male; Mice; Phosphorylation; Sevoflurane; Testosterone; tau Proteins
PubMed: 35115156
DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2022.01.002 -
Frontiers in Endocrinology 2020
Topics: Hormone Replacement Therapy; Humans; Hypogonadism; Male; Testosterone
PubMed: 32695070
DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2020.00426 -
Hormones and Behavior May 2017Considerable evidence suggests that the steroid hormone testosterone mediates major life-history trade-offs in vertebrates, promoting mating effort at the expense of... (Review)
Review
Considerable evidence suggests that the steroid hormone testosterone mediates major life-history trade-offs in vertebrates, promoting mating effort at the expense of parenting effort or survival. Observations from a range of wild primates support the "Challenge Hypothesis," which posits that variation in male testosterone is more closely associated with aggressive mating competition than with reproductive physiology. In both seasonally and non-seasonally breeding species, males increase testosterone production primarily when competing for fecund females. In species where males compete to maintain long-term access to females, testosterone increases when males are threatened with losing access to females, rather than during mating periods. And when male status is linked to mating success, and dependent on aggression, high-ranking males normally maintain higher testosterone levels than subordinates, particularly when dominance hierarchies are unstable. Trade-offs between parenting effort and mating effort appear to be weak in most primates, because direct investment in the form of infant transport and provisioning is rare. Instead, infant protection is the primary form of paternal investment in the order. Testosterone does not inhibit this form of investment, which relies on male aggression. Testosterone has a wide range of effects in primates that plausibly function to support male competitive behavior. These include psychological effects related to dominance striving, analgesic effects, and effects on the development and maintenance of the armaments and adornments that males employ in mating competition.
Topics: Aggression; Animals; Breeding; Competitive Behavior; Female; Male; Primates; Reproduction; Sexual Behavior, Animal; Social Dominance; Testosterone
PubMed: 27616559
DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.09.001 -
The Journal of Physical Chemistry... Jul 2021We have successfully characterized the structure of testosterone, one of the essential steroids, through high-resolution rotational spectroscopy. A single conformer has...
We have successfully characterized the structure of testosterone, one of the essential steroids, through high-resolution rotational spectroscopy. A single conformer has been detected, and a total of 404 transitions have been fitted, allowing a precise determination of the rotational constants. It allowed us to unravel that the isolated structure of testosterone adopts an extended disposition. The results obtained in this work highlight how using laser ablation techniques in combination with Fourier transform microwave techniques allow the study of large biomolecules or common pharmaceuticals. It is an important step toward studying relevant biomolecules and developing new analytical techniques with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution.
Topics: Molecular Conformation; Spectrum Analysis; Testosterone
PubMed: 34283615
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01743 -
Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis 2011Testosterone is a steroid sex hormone with an important role in the physiology in both sexes. It is involved in the development of morphological and functional... (Review)
Review
Testosterone is a steroid sex hormone with an important role in the physiology in both sexes. It is involved in the development of morphological and functional parameters of the body via multiple molecular mechanisms. Intensive research focused on testosterone reveals associations with cognitive abilities and behavior and its causative role in sex differences in cognition. Testosterone modulates brain structure and the differentiation of neurons during intrauterine development with profound effects on brain functions during postnatal life. In this review we summarize the effects of testosterone on brain physiology and cognition with respect to the underlying molecular mechanisms.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Cognition; Female; Humans; Male; Mice; Rats; Sex Characteristics; Sexual Behavior; Testosterone
PubMed: 22237492
DOI: 10.55782/ane-2011-1863 -
Endocrine Journal Jul 2023Testosterone plays a key role in the maintenance of physical and mental functions in men. Age-related testosterone decline is closely associated with sarcopenia and...
Testosterone plays a key role in the maintenance of physical and mental functions in men. Age-related testosterone decline is closely associated with sarcopenia and muscle deterioration, while testosterone decline is linked with the etiology and prevention of diseases such as angina pectoris, arteriosclerosis, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and dementia. Late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) is defined as a disease characterized by age-related testosterone decline and associated clinical symptoms. Testosterone replacement therapy improves health-related QOL in patients with LOH.
Topics: Male; Humans; Testosterone; Men's Health; Quality of Life; Hypogonadism; Obesity; Hormone Replacement Therapy; Aging
PubMed: 37045775
DOI: 10.1507/endocrj.EJ22-0604 -
Asian Journal of Andrology 2014Assays that measure steroid hormones in patient care, public health, and research need to be both accurate and precise, as these criteria help to ensure comparability... (Review)
Review
Assays that measure steroid hormones in patient care, public health, and research need to be both accurate and precise, as these criteria help to ensure comparability across all clinical and research applications. This review addresses major issues relevant to assay variability and describes recent activities by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve assay performance. Currently, high degrees of accuracy and precision are not always met for testosterone and estradiol measurements; although technologies for steroid hormone measurement have advanced significantly, measurement variability within and across laboratories has not improved accordingly. Differences in calibration and specificity are discussed as sources of variability in measurement accuracy. Ultimately, a combination of factors appears to cause inaccuracy of steroid hormone measurements, with nonuniform assay calibration and lack of specificity being two major contributors to assay variability. Within-assay variability for current assays is generally high, especially at low analyte concentrations. The CDC Hormone Standardization (HoSt) Program is improving clinical assays, as evidenced by a 50% decline in mean absolute bias between mass spectrometry assays and the CDC reference method from 2007 to 2011. This program provides the measurement traceability to CDC reference methods and helps to minimize factors affecting measurement variability.
Topics: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; Estradiol; Humans; Reference Standards; Reproducibility of Results; Testosterone; United States
PubMed: 24407184
DOI: 10.4103/1008-682X.122338 -
Biomolecules Nov 2022Androgens are steroids that modulate various processes in the body, ranging from reproduction, metabolism, and even immune response. The main androgens are testosterone,... (Review)
Review
Androgens are steroids that modulate various processes in the body, ranging from reproduction, metabolism, and even immune response. The main androgens are testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). These steroids modulate the development and function of immune response cells. Androgens are generally attributed to immunosuppressive effects; however, this is not always the case. Variations in the concentrations of these hormones induce differences in the innate, humoral, and cell-mediated immune response, which is concentration dependent. The androgens at the highest concentration in the organism that bind to the androgen receptor (AR) are DHEA and testosterone. Therefore, in this work, we review the effects of DHEA and testosterone on the immune response. The main findings of this review are that DHEA and testosterone induce similar but also opposite effects on the immune response. Both steroids promote the activation of regulatory T cells, which suppresses the Th17-type response. However, while testosterone suppresses the inflammatory response, DHEA promotes it, and this modulation is important for understanding the involvement of androgens in infectious (bacterial, viral and parasitic) and autoimmune diseases, as well as in the sexual dimorphism that occurs in these diseases.
Topics: Testosterone; Dehydroepiandrosterone; Androgens; Dihydrotestosterone; Adaptive Immunity
PubMed: 36551196
DOI: 10.3390/biom12121768 -
The Canadian Journal of Urology Jun 2014Testosterone deficiency (TD) afflicts approximately 30% of men ages 40-79 years, with an increase in prevalence strongly associated with aging and common medical... (Review)
Review
Testosterone deficiency (TD) afflicts approximately 30% of men ages 40-79 years, with an increase in prevalence strongly associated with aging and common medical conditions including obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. There appears to be a strong relationship between TD and metabolic syndrome, though the relationship is not certain to be causal. Several studies have suggested that repletion of testosterone in deficient men with these comorbidities may indeed reverse or delay their progression. While testosterone repletion has been largely thought of in a sexual realm, we discuss its potential role in general men's health concerns: metabolic, body composition, and its association with decreased all-cause mortality. Recent guidelines and studies have suggested variable prevalence statistics and expanded uses of testosterone repletion in certain populations with both biochemical and clinical signs of testosterone deficiency. Yet, this is not done without risk. A recent randomized placebo-controlled trial of testosterone repletion in elderly frail men with limited mobility has suggested potential negative cardiovascular risks in this older, sicker group of men. Two more recent retrospective studies of variable clinical design and interpretation suggest testosterone poses an increased cardiovascular risk in older men than 65 years and younger men with heart disease. This review examines these and other studies, with practical recommendations for the diagnosis of testosterone deficiency and repletion in middle aged and older men, including an analysis of treatment modalities and areas of concern and uncertainty.
Topics: Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cardiovascular Diseases; Deficiency Diseases; Hormone Replacement Therapy; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Physicians, Primary Care; Primary Health Care; Risk Factors; Testosterone; Treatment Outcome
PubMed: 24978631
DOI: No ID Found