Gender in Endocrine Diseases: Role of Sex Gonadal Hormones

Table 2

Endocrine roles of T in the human body.

Sexual function	Increase libido and erectile function [131]
Glucose metabolism	Increased insulin sensitivity [132, 133]
Bone	Increased bone mineral density; reduction in bone resorption markers; Decrease of osteoblast apoptosis rate; Stimulation of osteoprogenitor cell proliferation and of differentiation of mature osteoblasts; Decrease of osteoclast formation and bone resorption through an increased production of osteoprotegerin [134–136]
Muscle	Increase in both cross-sectional area and myonuclei number; increased muscle fiber area via hyperplasia and hypertrophy; increased muscle strength [101]
Haematopoietic system	Stimulation of erythropoiesis directly and erythropoietin synthesis in the kidney; Promotion of erythropoietic stem cell differentiation and increased sensitivity of erythroid progenitors to erythropoietin [137, 138]
Adipose tissue	Commitment of pluripotent mesenchymal cells into myogenic lineage; inhibition of commitment of pluripotent mesenchymal cells into adipocyte lineage and inhibition of differentiation of subcutaneous abdominal preadipocytes into adipocytes. Net decrease in fat mass [101]