The secret of typical men's depression Testosterone deficiency makes men melancholy

Sex hormones: makes too little testosterone really sad?
It has long been known that sex hormones have an important influence on reproduction and pleasure. They also play an important role in human mood. For example, too little testosterone in men or too little estrogen in women can promote depression. Researchers from Austria have examined this relationship more closely.
Depression due to too few sex hormones
Sex hormones play a very important role in human mood. Men can be helped by too little testosterone and in women by too little estrogen depression. This connection has now been examined by researchers in Vienna on the basis of transsexuals. According to this, the serotonin, known as "happiness messenger", which helps to shape our emotional balance in the brain, is important for this connection. This hormone fulfills many more functions in the body. It has an influence on the sleep rhythm, the sensation of pain, our appetite and the body temperature.

Testosterone provides more "happiness messengers"
A research team led by Rupert Lanzenberger from the Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Vienna) showed in a study that testosterone increases the number of serotonin transporters (SERT) in the human brain. These proteins are reported to regulate the concentration of serotonin and are also the target of antidepressants. The scientists published the results of their research in the journal "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25497691">Biological Psychiatry".

According to an earlier communication from "science.ORF.at", the researchers chose hormone therapy for transsexuals as a model for testing the effects of testosterone. "Transsexuals are people who have the feeling that they live in the wrong body and therefore want a high-dose of opposite-sex hormone therapy to adapt their appearance to the opposite sex," says first author Georg Kranz in a message very conservative. "Genetic women get testosterone, estradiol genetic men and drugs to suppress testosterone."

Does not enough testosterone make you sad? Picture: pololia - fotolia

Close relationship demonstrated
The scientists were able to demonstrate with the help of an imaging process (PET) that the number of SERTS in "genetic women" who want to become men increases significantly after four weeks of testosterone therapy. Furthermore, a close correlation between blood testosterone and serotonin transporter density was demonstrated. For "genetic men" who want to become women, it was the other way around, as "science.ORF.at" reported: with them, SERTS were reduced after estradiol therapy. Although the scientists did not directly measure the content of serotonin in the study, the conclusion "more SERT, more serotonin and thus more feelings of happiness" is permissible, as Siegfried Kasper, Head of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at MedUni Vienna, told " science.ORF.at "explained.

"Essential insights into the effects of sex hormones "
Thus, it is clear that "genetic men" who want to become women have a "biologically unfavorable starting position". "If they have depressive episodes in the process of transformation, they should not be afraid to seek psychiatric help," says Kaspar. Crucial to the new study is that was shown worldwide for the first time in humans, how SERTs and sex hormones related. This could in practice lead to the recommendation that depressive men testosterone be recommended as an "antidepressant". "The study has shown that testosterone increases the potential binding sites for commonly prescribed antidepressants in the brain, allowing significant insights into the effects of sex hormones on the human brain," said Kaspar.

Low testosterone levels lead to diseases
The male sex hormone has already attracted numerous scientists. Testosterone has been studied in about 85,000 studies. For example, several studies have shown that low levels of testosterone in old age can lead to various symptoms, including erectile dysfunction, fatigue, depression, and a decrease in bone density (osteoporosis). In addition, some physicians believe that therapy with testosterone may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack or stroke. (Ad)