Question about androgens from adrenal gland? ?

Question

Do androgens like testosterone from the adrenal gland act in the same way as testosterone produced from the testes? Or does the testosterone from the Adrenal Glands go to certain parts of the body, while the testosterone from the testes go to other parts?

Answer 1

Hey Dundo, It's the reincarnation of the Suspended Doggie ;)

Testosterone is the same exact molecule irrespective of where it's made, whether in the adrenal cortex or in the testes.  As any hormone, it gets liberated into the blood and acts on target organs.  The molecule isn't terribly smart so it doesn't matter where testosterone is made, it doesn't know "where to go."  All testosterone circulates throughout the body (if you were somehow able to look at a single molecule of androgen, e.g. testosterone, you wouldn't know if it was synthesized in the Adrenal Cortex of the testes.  The testes make a lot more testosterone (normally) than the Adrenals.

There are some endocrine conditions (CAH) where the adrenal gland lacks (or is deficient in) a key enzme such as 21-alpha-hydroxylase and so the adrenal starts making much more androgen than it should.  This can cause both aesthetic and severe medical issues for patients born with this congenital illness.

The short answer to your question is that androgens ike testosterone are highly lipophilic (easily miscible with fat) and cross phospholipid bilayers very easily.  No matter where they are manufactured, when they get to their target cell, they easily cross the cell membrane and have intra-cellular receptors which then allow for them to carry out their job (which is a whole spiel in and of itself).

But yeah, an androgen is the same, irrespective of where it's made and will go wherever the blood stream takes it and if it "fit" a receptor nicely, it'll do the job it was made to do.

Take care,

The artiste formerly called Doggie

Answer 2

It's the same chemical structure so my thought is that it acts the same way. The testes make WAY MORE testosterone relative to the adrenals, BTW.

Edit:No, although the testosterone is technically released into different blood vessels, the hormones circulate and are mixed together fairly homogenously. So the testosterone will reach the same target tissues with the same regularity.