Androgen function tests

Female sexual development and behaviour in mammals occurs by default and requires no ovarian secretion, and it is only in genetic males that the testis can secrete hormones which destroy this female pattern and superimpose that of the male. Sexual differentiation is not so well defined in fish, and larval exposure to both synthetic estrogens and androgens is widely used in aquaculture to produce monosex cultures. Endocrine disruption of sexual differentiation in fish may therefore reflect both the complexity and diversity of such processes between different species. Some care is required in use of the terms hermaphrodite and sex-reversal since a true hermaphrodite has both functional testes and ovaries and a sex-reversed fish is fully functional as its final sex—both produce the appropriate viable gametes. Such functional sex-reversal is not possible in mammals, but in some species of fish it is the normal developmental pattern. In most of the cases of hermaphroditism or sex-reversal reported in the non-scientific press, there is evidence only for a few ovarian follicles within a functional testis. This may be considered as feminisation or a form of intersex, and is very clearly endocrine disruption, but it is certainly neither sex-reversal nor hermaphroditism. In some cases the terms have even been used to infer induction of a single female characteristic such as production of yolk-protein by males. 

Androgen synthesis inhibitors provide symptomatic, but brief, relief in approximately 50% of patients. Aminoglutethimide causes adverse effects in 50% of patients, such as lethargy, ataxia, dizziness, and self-limiting rash. The adverse effects of ketoconazole are GI intolerance, transient increases in liver and renal function tests, and hypoadrenalism. 

Morote J, Esquena S, Orsola A, Salvador C, Trilla E, Cecchini L, Raventos CX, Planas J, Catalan R, Reventos J. Effect of androgen deprivation therapy in the thyroid function test of patients with prostate cancer Anti-Cancer Drugs 2005 16 863-6. 

Several drugs (for example amiodarone, androgens, glucocorticoids, phenytoin, and salicylates) interfere with the transport or metabolism of thyroid hormones and thereby alter thyroid function tests. These have been reviewed (90). In patients taking levothyroxine serum TSH rises after treatment with sertraline (91) and antimalarial prophylaxis with chloroquine and proguanil... 

Androgens Testosterone Testes, adrenals Sexual differentiation, fertility, secondary sex characteristics, sexual function, libido... 

A 50-year-old woman taking spironolactone for androgenic alopecia developed hepatitis with minimal cholestasis 6 weeks after starting therapy (9). After withdrawal of spironolactone, her symptoms resolved and liver function tests improved. She was not rechallenged. 

Vasopressin plays a major role in the control of blood pressure, which is probably essential for vasocongestion or erection. cOxytocin gene expression occurs in ovary and testes, but the exact functions remain unknown. dProgestins, such as cyproterone acetate, are used clinically as anti-androgens (Kravitz, et ah, 1995). 

The fact that we all begin life basically as females can be appreciated in several ways. For example, if the testes are removed from an embryonic male fetus, the individual is bom female. Males lacking functional androgen receptors provide a second example these individuals are phenotypicaUy female, a phenomenon known as testicular feminization. It follows that embryonic mammals are targeted to become females unless androgens intervene in the development and differentiation process. 

Testes Sexual development and function. Produce the hormones androgens, estrogens, and progestins... 

Testosterone is the most important of the male sexual steroids (androgens), it is synthesized in the Leydig intersitial cells of the testes, and controls the development and functioning of the male gonads, it also determines secondary sexual characteristics in men (muscles, hair, etc.). 

Androgens are used medically as replacement therapy in male hypogonadal disorders (i.e. impaired functioning of the testes). They are administered to adolescent males displaying delayed puberty to promote an increase in the size of the scrotum and other sexual organs. Androgens are also sometimes administered to females, particularly in the management of some... 

The androgens stimulate the development of the male secondary structures, such as the penis, scrotum, seminal vesicles, prostate gland, vas deferens and epididymis. The deepening of the voice, the growth of pubic, axillary, body, and facial hair, as well as the development of the characteristic musculature of the human male, are also under the influence of testosterone. If the testes fail to develop or are removed prior to puberty, these changes do not occur. Thus, testosterone is essential for reproductive function of the male. 

Androgens (testes) Steroids (testosterone) Maturation and function of secondary sex organs... 

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