What is Testosterone?

Testosterone is part of “androgen group,” of steroid hormones. In humans, testosterone is secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females. And while men produce forty to sixty times more testosterone than women, studies suggest that females seem to be more sensitized to testosterone.

Androgen is a generic term for any natural or synthetic hormone or compound, that stimulates or controls the development and regulation of masculine characteristics in vertebrates. This includes the activity of the male sex organs and development of male secondary sex characteristics, for example, developing an Adam’s apple or growing a beard. They can be called androgens, androgenic hormones or testoids. Androgens are also the original anabolic steroids. They are also the precursor of all estrogens, the female sex hormones. The primary and most well-known androgen is testosterone.

The androgen group that includes testosterone is responsible for the prenatal development of prostate and seminal vesicles and genital virilization or, the growth of sex organs.

To put it simply, testosterone is the hormone that makes a man, a Man.

In the first few weeks of infancy, testosterone levels rise and t-levels remain in the ranges of males undergoing puberty. This lasts until an infant is four to six weeks old. While the reason for this is unknown, the theory of “brain masculinization” has been widely proposed as, 1. There seems to be no other physical changes happening, and 2. Females produce a binding agent, alpha-fetoprotein, which keeps the aromatized testosterone, (aromatized testosterone is estrogen,) from reaching their brains.

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