It is an enzyme called aromatase that would regulate male sexual behavior. It is located in the brain and needs testosterone to be fully active.
- The driver of testosterone to estrogen conversion, essential to male desire, has been identified
- This discovery opens up avenues for new treatments for sexual disorders
“This is the first key discovery to explain how testosterone stimulates sexual desiresays Dr. Serdar Bulun, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Medicine and lead author of the study. For the first time, we have conclusively demonstrated that the conversion of testosterone to estrogen in the brain is essential for maintaining full sexual activity or desire in men. Aromatase is the engine.” Aromatase is an enzyme, i.e. a protein, necessary for the production of estrogen. For this, aromatase causes the conversion of testosterone into estradiol, i.e. estrogen This enzyme is found, among other places, in the testicles and the brain. study published in the journal Endocrinology, the researchers wanted to determine the role of brain aromatase in the regulation of male sexual activity. Until now, the full function of aromatase in the brain was not known.
A way to treat sexual disorders
To do this, the researchers eliminated aromatase selectively in the brains of certain male mice. Results, their sexual activity decreased by 50% although their blood testosterone level remained very high. “Male mice partially lost interest in sexsays Dr. Hong Zhao, one of the study’s authors. Aromatase is the key enzyme for estrogen production. Estrogen has functions in both men and women. Testosterone must be converted into estrogen to stimulate sexual desire in men.“In other words, testosterone alone is not enough because it is the aromatase in the brain that converts it to estradiol and activates the desire of the man.
These results therefore prove that the sexual behavior of men can be modified in two ways: either reduced by canceling the activity of the brain aromatase enzyme, or increased by improving the activity of aromatase. Thus, this discovery could contribute to the development of new treatments for sexual desire disorders, by targeting aromatase. For patients with low sex drive – or hypoactive sex drive disorder – treatment to boost aromatase could increase sexual activity. On the other hand, those with a compulsive sexual desire, could benefit from a treatment which would suppress the aromatase in the brain. They would thus have much less desire.
The authors of the study point out that this type of treatment targeting aromatase in the brain could avoid the side effects of those currently available on the market.
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