2011-10-21 HealthDay News - Research Suggests Penis Might Produce Testosterone

[Minuteman]

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Work in mouse, human tissues show signs male hormones may be generated, but more study needed.

FRIDAY, Oct. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Textbooks have long listed the centers of male hormone production as the testes and adrenal glands. But those textbooks might need revising if the results of a new study, showing hormone production in the penis itself, turn out to be true.

The observation stems from analyses in both mice and human tissue, revealing that proteins key to the production of hormones such as testosterone are active in penile tissue.

"We're talking about the expression of certain enzymes that are absolutely crucial to the production of male hormones," explained study lead author Dr. Kathleen Hwang, currently an assistant professor of surgery/urology at Brown University in Providence, RI. "And what we've established is that there are receptors in penile tissue, which has never been demonstrated before."

"So while this is still work in its infancy," Hwang cautioned, "this does suggest that there are other tissues in the male genitalia tract that are actually involved in hormone production."

[z726]

Interesting. I've heard that semen does contain a small amount of testosterone, and assumed that it just came from the testicles. Perhaps the prostate may have something to do with it.

I wish they'd been more specific about which part of the penis it was in which they found the proteins. My guess would be the corpus cavernosum, but there are several others. Whichever it is, I just hope this emerging research will eventually get doctors to think twice about any surgery that would alter the penis.