What exactly does DHT do?

[crisis]

ok so finasteride inhibits 5 alpha-reductase enzyme which prevents testosterone from being converted into 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

I have 3 questions:

does this lead to a build up of testosterone in the body? What are the effects of this?

what exactly does DHT normally do in the body apart from make hair fall out?

thanks.

c

 

[VWdude]

DHT = balding.

 

[dead]

does this lead to a build up of testosterone in the body? What are the effects of this?

no.

what exactly does DHT normally do in the body apart from make hair fall out?

many, many things

 

[biff]

many, many things

Elaborate.

 

[biff]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=defineHT

It's basically testosterone. By taking DHT blockers you are reducing your testosterone.

 

[dead]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=defineHT

It's basically testosterone. By taking DHT blockers you are reducing your testosterone.

By taking 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride (which lower serum DHT levels) you increase testosterone as less testosterone is converted into dihyrotestoterone.

 

[biff]

Thanks for clearing that up, so what are the many other things DHT does?

 

[drinkrum]

Thanks for clearing that up, so what are the many other things DHT does?

Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrotestosterone

Not all things in that article are correct, however. For instance, DHT has not been shown to be responsible for muscular growth. In fact, DHT is broken down into a useless metabolite in muscle tissue.

D.

 

[biff]

Thanks for clearing that up, so what are the many other things DHT does?

Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrotestosterone

Not all things in that article are correct, however. For instance, DHT has not been shown to be responsible for muscular growth. In fact, DHT is broken down into a useless metabolite in muscle tissue.

D.

That would be interesting to test. Is there anybody that does bodybuilding on here that has found it harder to put on muscle while on finasteride?

 

[Bryan]

By taking 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride (which lower serum DHT levels) you increase testosterone as less testosterone is converted into dihyrotestoterone.

Let's be clear about the subtleties of that: the evidence seems to indicate that when the brain sees a sharp decline in DHT during finasteride usage, it recognizes that as a reduction in the general androgenic load, so it sends a signal to the testes to increase the production of testosterone as a way to compensate. In other words, it's not really that there's simply more testosterone left floating around because it's not being converted to DHT. It's the result of a feedback mechanism that the body uses to maintain proper levels of androgens.

Bryan

 

[Cornholio]

In the prostate DHT affects prostate growth and secretions... Blocking it can help reverse prostate hypertrophy (which makes it impossible to pass urine). Presumably it has a marginal role is sexual function/ejaculation as blocking it can cause a (largely temporary) difficulty with ejaculation for a minority of people.

Sebaceous (oil) glands are also stimulated by DHT... causing acne.

Regarding hair, DHT causes male pattern hair changes (loss of temple and vertex hair, increased body and facial hair). These changes help differentiate male from female and must have served some evolutionary purpose or benefit at one time.

There are Type I 5AR enzymes converting testosterone to DHT in some central nervous system cells... their role and significance is not known, but may be important in optimizing athletic performance and muskuloskeletal response to testosterone. This is not proven, but would be a reasonable guess. Testosterone is lower in Alzheimer's patients, but it is not clear if this is a cause or effect of the disease. No studies differentiate whether DHT or testosterone reduction effect this neurodegenerative disease.

Small studies show that Testosterone and DHT have a separate role in maintaining normal male genitalia (corpus cavernosa), as supression of either results in microscopic changes in the collagen of the penis in rats. Change in errectile function has not been shown to correspond to these microscopic changes, and no human studies have been done, but it makes you wonder...

Fat balance (fat or lean muscle) is affected by androgens. I am not sure if blocking DHT production will promote a tendancy to gain fat (no study says this) but this has been hinted at by muscle builders.

No study has shown an effect on the skeletal system (osteoporosis) with DHT blockade.

 

[dead]

By taking 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride (which lower serum DHT levels) you increase testosterone as less testosterone is converted into dihyrotestoterone.

Let's be clear about the subtleties of that: the evidence seems to indicate that when the brain sees a sharp decline in DHT during finasteride usage, it recognizes that as a reduction in the general androgenic load, so it sends a signal to the testes to increase the production of testosterone as a way to compensate. In other words, it's not really that there's simply more testosterone left floating around because it's not being converted to DHT. It's the result of a feedback mechanism that the body uses to maintain proper levels of androgens.

Bryan

Bryan, could this be termed 'upregulation' ? or does 'upregulation' only refer to receptor activity ?

 

[Bryan]

Sure, it's "upregulation" of testosterone production. That word is just a general one that surely could be used in a variety of contexts involving feedback loops.

Bryan

 

[dead]

Sure, it's "upregulation" of testosterone production. That word is just a general one that surely could be used in a variety of contexts involving feedback loops.

Bryan

Cheers big ears.

 

[Nickie]

when taking a DHT inhibitor, the body will eventually compensate, and get used to that dose, and basically nothing will go out of whack or change.

if u get past the first few weeks, then most likely u'll be A-ok.