Androgen central nervous system

Androgens produce both virilizing and protein anabolic actions (Table 63.1). The virilizing actions of testosterone include irreversible effects that occur during em-bryogenesis, that is, those that induce differentiation of the central nervous system and male reproductive tracts, and the excitatory actions at puberty that are... 

Androgens should not be administered to male patients with carcinoma of the prostate or breast. Until more is known about the effects of these hormones on the central nervous system in developing children, they should be avoided in infants and young children. 

With respect to hemispheric lateralization, some authors tried to relate the different pattern of cerebral functional lateralization to a different connectivity between the hemispheres as a consequence of different exposure to androgens, in particular testosterone, in the early development of the central nervous system in humans and non-human species (Reviewed in Wisniewski, 1998). 

Local production of estrogens by the aromatization of androgens may play a causal role in the development or progression of diseases such as breast cancer. Estrogens also may be produced from androgens by CYPI9 in the central nervous system (CNS) and other tissues and exert local effects near their production site fe.g., in bone they increase bone mineral density). 

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