The role of androgen in male sexual arousal.
- Author:
Xin-Tao GAO
1
;
Xia-Ming LIU
1
;
Feng-Fei DING
2
;
Ji-Hong LIU
1
Author Information
1. Department of Urology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
2. School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
- Publication Type:Review
- Keywords:
androgen;
androgen receptor;
dopamine;
sexual arousal;
male
- MeSH:
Androgens;
Humans;
Male;
Sexual Arousal
- From:
National Journal of Andrology
2021;27(9):833-839
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Sexual arousal is an important factor for the success of sexual behavior, and regulated by the central nervous system, its underlying mechanism is very complicated. Androgen is the most important endocrine hormone in men, which is deeply involved in the whole process of male sexual response, but how it regulates male sexual arousal has not been fully clarified and remains one of the hotspots in current andrological research. Therefore, this paper presents an overview of the advances in the studies of the related role and mechanism of androgen in male sexual arousal. In the central nervous system, androgen regulates the release of dopamine neurotransmitters by binding androgen receptors or metabolizing neurosteroids, thus activating the brain reward system. Besides, androgen regulates the neuronal plasticity and spinous process formation in the neural circuit of sexual arousal to ensure successful activation and conduction of the neural circuit. However, the specific regulating mechanism of sexual arousal remains to be further explored.
