Why do men need estrogens?
The transformation of sex hormones in the brain turned out to be the key to healthy male sexuality
Sergey Vasiliev, Naked Science
The development of the body according to the female or male type, the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics, the formation of cravings for representatives of the opposite sex, the manifestation of sexual attraction – all these processes are controlled by sex hormones, "female" estrogens and "male" androgens. At the same time, both estrogens (primarily estradiol) and androgens (testosterone) are produced in both men and women. Their influence goes beyond the sexual system: for example, estradiol increases women's resistance to influenza.
Estradiol in the male body is formed from testosterone, under the action of the aromatase enzyme, which is encoded by the Cyp19a1 gene. This gene is active in the cells of many organs and tissues, starting with the sex glands and skin and ending with the brain. In men with non-working aromatase, unable to synthesize estradiol, fertility is reduced, no matter how high the testosterone level may be. According to some reports, the metabolism is also disrupted, and even the formation of the skeleton.
Serdar Bulun and his colleagues from Northwestern University in Illinois studied the effect of aromatase working in brain cells on the sexual behavior of male laboratory mice. To do this, the authors obtained GM animals of the bArKO line, in which the Cyp19a1 gene is turned off in the brain, but not in other tissues of the body. It turned out that the inability to produce a "female" hormone in the brain led to a halving of sexual activity, despite the fact that the amount of testosterone in the blood of such animals was even higher than that of controls.
The bArKO males did not show the usual interest in the hooked females. Moreover, if such mice were castrated, generally depriving them of the ability to produce testosterone, and then injected artificially, then their sexuality did not return to normal levels. It was restored only with the simultaneous administration of both testosterone and estradiol. Scientists cite such results in an article published in the journal Endocrinology (Brain Aromatase and the Regulation of Sexual Activity in Male Mice).
"We have demonstrated for the first time that the conversion of testosterone into estrogen in the brain is critically important for maintaining full–fledged sexual activity or attraction of males," concludes Professor Bulan. "It's all determined by aromatase." Scientists hope that in the future it will be possible to create methods for point control of the activity of the aromatase gene in the brain. This will allow you to correct sexual behavior: to weaken compulsive sexual desire or to strengthen the lowered one.
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