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{{Short description|Type of steroid hormone}}

factoids

Sex hormones, also known as sex steroids, gonadocorticoids and gonadal steroids, are steroid hormones that interact with vertebrate steroid hormone receptors.JOURNAL, Guerriero, G, Vertebrate sex steroid receptors: evolution, ligands, and neurodistribution., Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, April 2009, 1163, 1, 154–68, 19456336, 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04460.x, 2009NYASA1163..154G, 5790990, The sex hormones include the androgens, estrogens, and progestogens. Their effects are mediated by slow genomic mechanisms through nuclear receptors as well as by fast nongenomic mechanisms through membrane-associated receptors and signaling cascades.JOURNAL, Thakur, MK, Paramanik, V, Role of steroid hormone coregulators in health and disease, Hormone Research, 2009, 71, 4, 194–200, 19258710, 10.1159/000201107,www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/201107, free, The polypeptide hormones luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and gonadotropin-releasing hormone – each associated with the gonadotropin axis – are usually not regarded as sex hormones, although they play major sex-related roles.

Production

Natural sex hormones are made by the gonads (ovaries or testicles),JOURNAL, Brook, CG, Mechanism of puberty, Hormone Research, 1999, 51 Suppl 3, 3, 52–4, 10592444, 10.1159/000053162, 33671883, by adrenal glands, or by conversion from other sex steroids in other tissue such as liver or fat.BOOK, Health, Risk, and Adversity - Volume 2 of Studies of the Biosocial Society, Catherine Panter-Brick, Agustín Fuentes, Berghahn Books, 2011, Glossary, 280, {{Production rates, secretion rates, clearance rates, and blood levels of major sex hormones}}

Types

In many contexts, the two main classes of sex hormones are androgens and estrogens, of which the most important human derivatives are testosterone and estradiol, respectively. Other contexts will include progestogens as a third class of sex steroids, distinct from androgens and estrogens.WEB, 2022-06-24, An Overview Of Sex Hormones,www.news-medical.net/health/An-Overview-Of-Sex-Hormones.aspx, 2023-05-22, News-Medical.net, en, Progesterone is the most important and only naturally occurring human progestogen. In general, androgens are considered “male sex hormones”, since they have masculinizing effects, while estrogens and progestogens are considered “female sex hormones“JOURNAL, ElAttar, TM, Hugoson, A, Comparative metabolism of female sex steroids in normal and chronically inflamed gingiva of the dog, Journal of Periodontal Research, 1974, 9, 5, 284–9, 10.1111/j.1600-0765.1974.tb00683.x, 4281823, although all types are present in each sex at different levels.Sex hormones include:

• Progestogens
  • Pregnenolone → Progesterone → Allopregnanedione → Allopregnanolone
  • 17α-Hydroxypregnenolone → 17α-Hydroxyprogesterone
• Androgens
  • Dehydroepiandrosterone → Androstenedione → Androstanedione → Androsterone
  • Androstenediol → Testosterone → Dihydrotestosterone → Androstanediol
• Estrogens
  • 2-Hydroxyestrone ← Estrone → 16α-Hydroxyestrone
  • 2-Hydroxyestradiol ← Estradiol → Estriol → Estetrol

Synthetic sex steroids

There are also many synthetic sex steroids.WEB, Effect of endogenous and synthetic sex steroids on the clearance of antibody-coated cells,journals.aai.org/jimmunol/article-abstract/141/9/2959/21053/Effect-of-endogenous-and-synthetic-sex-steroids-on, 2023-05-22, journals.aai.org, Synthetic androgens are often referred to as anabolic steroids. Synthetic estrogens and progestins are used in methods of hormonal contraception. Ethinylestradiol is a semi-synthetic estrogen. Specific compounds that have partial agonist activity for steroid receptors, and therefore act in part like natural steroid hormones, are in use in medical conditions that require treatment with steroid in one cell type, but where systemic effects of the particular steroid in the entire organism are only desirable within certain limits.JOURNAL, Copland, JA, Sheffield-Moore, M, Koldzic-Zivanovic, N, Gentry, S, Lamprou, G, Tzortzatou-Stathopoulou, F, Zoumpourlis, V, Urban, RJ, Vlahopoulos, SA, Sex steroid receptors in skeletal differentiation and epithelial neoplasia: is tissue-specific intervention possible?, BioEssays, June 2009, 31, 6, 629–41, 19382224, 10.1002/bies.200800138, 205469320,

See also

• List of investigational sex-hormonal agents
• Effects of hormones on sexual motivation
• Sex hormone therapy

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• {{MeshName|Sex+Steroid+Hormones}}

{{Steroids}}{{Major drug groups}}{{Navboxes| title = Sex steroidergics| list1 ={{Androgen receptor modulators}}{{Estrogen receptor modulators}}{{Progesterone receptor modulators}}}}{{Authority control}}