Androgen is a term embracing any of the male sex hormones, substances that induce and maintain secondary sex characteristics in males. The principal androgens are testosterone and androsterone. They are found in the male testes and adrenal glands, in which they are produced; in the blood, in which they circulate; and in the urine, in which they are excreted. Androgens function principally, beginning at puberty, in the stimulation of such secondary sex characteristics as development of the genital organs and maturation of sperm, growth of body hair, and changes in the larynx that lower the voice. They also account for the growth of muscle mass and bonetissue in the developing male. Research Androgen
The testes consist of two oval-shaped glands about three centimeters long and two centimeters wide. The testes are suspended in a sac called the scrotum outside the body to maintain the lower temperature necessary for efficient sperm production. Each of the testes consists of several lobules, and each lobule consists of a narrow, but long, coiled seminiferous tubule. From the age of puberty, the cells of the seminiferous tubules are almost continuously producing spermatozoa (sperm), the male reproductive cells. Other cells, referred to as interstitial cells, secrete the male hormonetestosterone into the blood. These cells are located in numerous clusters in the connective tissue between the seminiferous tubules. Testosterone performs several functions: it is important to the development of masculine characteristics, it promotes and maintains the development of the male accessory organs (the prostate gland, seminal vesicles, etc.), and it has a stimulating effect on protein anabolism. Research Testes
Abbreviations
Research Androgen
