Androgen synthesis

Androgens are essential sex steroid hormones for both sexes. Androgens, at physiological concentrations, exert an overall suppressive effects, both on humoral and cellular immune responses, representing a category of natural anti-inflammatory hormones. The androgens synthesis involves the cholesterol sequential degradation to progesterone, then androgens and, finally, estrogens. 

Biosynthesis of androgens occurs both in the adrenal glands and in the ovaries and is modulated by the activity of several enzymes belonging to the cytochrome P450 superfamily. In the ovaries, androgen synthesis occurs in the theca cell compartment, and this synthesis pathway is stimulated by luteinizing hormone (LH) together with intraovary paracrine and autocrine mechanisms. In the adrenals, adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), the main stimulator of glucocorticoid production, is also implicated in the stimulation of adrenal androgen production and secretion. 

Androgen metabolism, in the broadest sense, includes the secretion, transport, tissue uptake, peripheral transformation, and excretion of C-19 steroids. Increased knowledge of androgen metabolism has widened the concept of the function of steroid metabolism to include more than just inactivation and excretion. Metabolic transformation of secreted androgens produces steroids with variable effects and potency; some, in fact, are estrogens.

Androgen metabolism varies with sex, age, thyroid status, and weight and from tissue to tissue. Androgenicity is not due exclusively to the androgen production rate but is also influenced by the process of metabolism. The interactions of those aspects of androgen metabolism that decrease or enhance androgenic effects are emphasized.

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