Journal article
Androgen physiology: unsolved problems at the millennium
JD Wilson, MW Leihy, G Shaw, MB Renfree
MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR ENDOCRINOLOGY | ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD | Published : 2002
Abstract
Androgen physiology differs from that of other steroid hormones in two major regards. First, testosterone, the predominant circulating testicular androgen, is both an active hormone and a prohormone for the formation of a more active androgen, the 5alpha-reduced steroid dihydrotestosterone. Genetic evidence indicates that testosterone and dihydrotestosterone work via a common intracellular receptor, and studies involving in vitro reporter gene assays and intact mice in which both steroid 5alpha-reductase isoenzymes have been disrupted by homologous recombination indicate that dihydrotestosterone acts during embryonic life to amplify hormonal signals that can be mediated by testosterone at hi..
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