Gonads hormones produced

Male and female hormones are produced primarily in the gonads. Androgens are synthesized in the testes in the male. In the female, the ovaries are the principal sites of estrogen and progestin production. As discussed in Chapter 29, small amounts of sex-related hormones are also produced in the adrenal cortex in both sexes, which accounts for the fact that small amounts of hormones of the opposite sex are seen in females and males that is, low testosterone levels are seen in females, and males produce small quantities of estrogen. However, under normal conditions, the amounts of sex-related hormones produced by the adrenal cortex are usually too small to produce significant physiologic effects. 

The nature and quantity of steroid hormones produced by the adrenal glands and gonads are different. The difference is inherent in the degree of activity of certain enzyme systems. For example, the enzymes lip-hydroxylase and 21-hydroxylase, present only in the adrenal glands, synthesize steroids characteristic of the adrenal glands. Similarly the ovaries and the testes contain enzymes that synthesize the male and female sex hormones (see Chapter 53). 

Lit and PSH are glycoprotein hormones produced by the anterior pituitary. They regulate gonadal function. 

Androgens a group of male gonadal hormones, including testosterone, androsterone and androsteno-lone, which are formed in the intermediary cells of the testes tissue, and a number of less active A. produced in the adrenal cortex, e.g. androstenedione and adrenosterone (Fig.). Since A. are precursors of Estrogens (see), they are also synthesized in the ovaries and fetoplacental unit. At present more than 30 naturally occurring A. are known, all structurally related to the parent hydrocarbon, androstane (see Steroids). 

Gonadal hormones, sex hormones steroid hormones produced in the male (testes) and female (ovaries) gonads. The G.h. determine the male or female character of an organism, in that they effect the... 

The interstitial cell-stimulating hormone of the hypophysis controls the production of gonadal hormones. In the testes, Leydig s cells are stimulated to produce testosterone and estrone in the female organism the follicles are stimulated to produce progesterone (see also Section 11). 

The adrenal cortex produces steroidal hormones that are associated with carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism, electrolyte balance, and gonadal functions (58). One of these, cortisone [53-06-5] ( ) demonstrated a remarkable ability to relieve the symptoms of inflammatory conditions... 

Measurement of contaminants in fish has concentrated on muscle tissue since the aim has generally been to protect the health of the consumer rather than that of the fish. Endocrine tissue such as the gonads has been much more rarely examined, while data for adrenal, thyroid and pituitary levels are virtually non-existent. More data are available for the liver, as a lipid rich tissue and the major site of xenobiotic catabolism, but the concentrations have rarely been related to its capacity to produce vitellogenin or metabolise endogenous hormones. Tissue concentrations of a wide range of chemicals, are at a level which suggests that, either alone or in combination, they will cause significant endocrine disruption in fish in many polluted habitats. 

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