Epitestosterone in Human Blood and Prostatic Tissue

Abstract

Epitestosterone, a Ci 9-steroid with anti-androgenic activity, was determined in the plasma of 234 boys and men from the ages of 6-86 years, and in the prostate tissue of 15 men 55-82 years of age. It was documented that, while in adulthood the concentration of epitestosterone is about ten times lower than the concentration of testosterone, in the pre-pubertal period the level of epitestosterone is similar or even higher than that of testosterone. In the hyperplastic prostate tissue the content of epitestosterone is comparable to that of androstenedione, it is about twice as high as the content of testosterone and approximately half that of the content of dihydrotestosterone. At least in the case of pre-pubertal boys and in the prostatic tissue it is therefore possible to include epitestosterone into consideration as a regulatory factor for the androgen-dependent events.

Characterization of 17α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity (17α-HSD) and its involvement in the biosynthesis of epitestosterone

“…It offers a tool to further study at molecular level the role of 17α-HSD in human, espectially for T abuse testing in sports using epiT as a control. It also permits to investigate the importance of epitestosterone in some previously reported interesting phenomenons such as its accumulation in mammary cyst fluid [25] and in human prostate [7,26], as well as its potential neuroprotective effects [27], and natural anti-androgenic effects [28]. …”

“…In hyperplasic prostate, epiT concentration is comparable to that of 4-dione, which represents about twice the amount of T and half the concentration of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) [7]. The excretion of epiT in urine is slightly lower than that of T [8-11].…”

Testosterone/Epitestosterone Ratios—Further Hints to Explain Hyperandrogenemia in Children with Autism

“…However, the focus was mainly on well-known androgens such as testosterone or dihydrotestosterone, other metabolites were not in the core of interest [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Epitestosterone is a natural hormone mainly produced in testes (the adrenal contribution is relatively modest), whereby on a functional level, a distinct antiandrogenic activity has been demonstrated [17][18][19]. Clear age dependence of epitestosterone plasma concentration during puberty was shown, whereby epitestosterone and testosterone showed an increase followed by a decrease during this stage of development [14,[18][19][20][21].…”

“…Epitestosterone is a natural hormone mainly produced in testes (the adrenal contribution is relatively modest), whereby on a functional level, a distinct antiandrogenic activity has been demonstrated [17][18][19]. Clear age dependence of epitestosterone plasma concentration during puberty was shown, whereby epitestosterone and testosterone showed an increase followed by a decrease during this stage of development [14,[18][19][20][21]. Nevertheless, neither the biosynthetic pathways nor the site of its formation of epitestosterone in man has been unequivocally confirmed to date [18].…”

Determination of epitestosterone in human urine by off-line immunoaffinity solid-phase extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography

“…Its physiological function is still unclear. ET has been found in human urine [2,3,5,6], plasma [7], hair [8] and tissues such as human testes and hyperplastic prostates [9,10]. The concentration of ET in urine is much higher than that in plasma [11].…”