How to make sex hormones happy

Research: Like sex hormones „happy“ do

01/27/2015

It has long been known that sex hormones 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 now examined this relationship in more detail.

Depression due to too little sex hormones
Sex hormones play a significant 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 „science.ORF.at“. Accordingly, this is as „Fortunately messenger“ known serotonin, which helps to shape our emotional balance in the brain, is important for this connection.

Proteins are the target of antidepressants
A research team led by Rupert Lanzenberger from the Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Vienna) showed in a recent 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 recently published the results of their research in the journal „Biological Psychiatry“.

Hormone therapy of transsexuals
The researchers chose the hormone therapy of transsexuals as a model for the study of the testosterone effect. „Transsexuals are people who feel that they are living 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 communication very conservative. „Genetic women receive testosterone, estradiol genetic men and drugs to suppress testosterone.“

„More serotonin and thus more happiness“
The scientists were able to prove with the help of an imaging procedure (PET) that the number of SERTS at „genetic women“, the men want to be, after only four weeks of testosterone therapy significantly increased. Furthermore, a close correlation between blood testosterone and serotonin transporter density was demonstrated. at „genetic men“, the women want to be, it was the other way around „ science.ORF.at“ writes: With them, the SERTS reduced after the estradiol therapy. The scientists did not directly measure the content of serotonin in the study, but the conclusion „more SERT, more serotonin and thus more happiness“, is permissible, as Siegfried Kasper, Head of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of MedUni Vienna, told „science.ORF.at“ explained.

Testosterone as „antidepressant“
Thus it is clear that „genetic men“, who want to become women, one „biologically unfavorable starting position“ to have. „If they have depressive episodes as a result of the 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. In practice this could lead to depressive men taking testosterone as a „antidepressant“ is recommended. „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“, Kaspar.

Many researchers are interested in the male sex hormone
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)

Picture: Jörg Brinckheger