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Pentti K. Siiteri, The Continuing Saga of Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 90, Issue 6, 1 June 2005, Pages 3795–3796, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2005-0852
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Large amounts of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfate ester, DHEAS, are secreted by the adrenal glands of humans and closely related primates. Huge amounts of DHEAS are secreted by the fetal adrenal glands and converted to estrogens in the placenta during pregnancy. Soon after birth, serum DHEAS concentrations fall to low levels but rise during adrenarche around age 7–9 yr. The highest DHEAS levels occur in the early twenties and are higher than those of any other hormone. Thereafter, the DHEAS levels decline over the subsequent 5 decades. Some investigators have suggested that this decline in DHEAS is causally related to the loss of mental and physical capabilities in aging humans. Is DHEA the Ponce de Leon hormone? Despite much effort, a definitive answer to this question has yet to be found.
DHEA and Androgen Production
The early history of the steroid hormones was brilliantly recorded in 1959 by Louis F. Fieser and his wife Mary (1). I will quote pertinent facts from chapter 16, titled “Androgens.” Butenandt reported the isolation of 15 mg of a potent androgen, androsterone (A), from 15,000 liters of male urine in 1931. A few years later he isolated the much weaker androgen, DHEA, and determined its chemical structure. The low potency and same A ring structure found in cholesterol suggested that DHEA might be formed in the adrenals rather than the testes. Supporting evidence came when Fieser and his associates found 88 mg/liter of DHEA in the urine of a woman with an adrenal tumor. However, interest in DHEA subsided when Lacquer reported the isolation of testosterone (T) from steer testes in 1935 (1).
