BACKGROUND Recent laboratory studies have suggested that cadmium is an estrogenic compound and may be a potential risk factor for breast cancer. METHODS We investigated the relationship between urinary cadmium concentrations and serum concentrations of estrone, testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in 164 postmenopausal Japanese women. RESULTS There was a significant positive ass...

Monthly serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, androstenedione, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and free testosterone levels were measured in 94 of 129 patients with castration resistant prostatic carcinoma treated on a clinical protocol with aminoglutethimide (1000 mg/day) plus hydrocortisone (40 mg/day) Base-line steroid levels were not found to be age related. Therapy reduced the median le...

The sulfated neurosteroids pregnenolone sulfate (Δ(5)PS) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) are known to play a role in the control of reproductive behavior. In the frog Pelophylax ridibundus, the enzyme hydroxysteroid sulfotransferase (HST), responsible for the biosynthesis of Δ(5)PS and DHEAS, is expressed in the magnocellular nucleus and the anterior preoptic area, two hypothalamic r...

Acupuncture has been demonstrated to improve menstrual frequency and to decrease circulating testosterone in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Our aim was to investigate whether acupuncture affects ovulation frequency and to understand the underlying mechanisms of any such effect by analyzing LH and sex steroid secretion in women with PCOS. This prospective, randomized, controlled cl...

Immediate post-training intracerebroventricular administration to male mice of pregnenolone (P), pregnenolone sulfate (PS), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), androstenedione, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, or aldosterone caused improvement of retention for footshock active avoidance training, while estrone, estradiol, progesterone, or 16 beta-bromoepiand...

Some neuroactive steroids which positively modulate GABAA receptor activity suppress cocaine-induced kindling but a possible involvement of other neurochemical mechanism in their antiepileptogenic effect remains to be elucidated. To this end, in the present study, we evaluated effects of allopregnanolone, a positive modulator of the GABAA receptor; its isomer without GABAergic activity--isopreg...

The hydrolysis of sulfate ester conjugates is frequently required prior to analysis for a range of analytical techniques including gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Sulfate hydrolysis may be achieved with commercial crude arylsulfatase enzyme preparations such as that derived from Helix pomatia but these contain additional enzyme activities such as glucuronidase, oxidase, and reduct...