androgen Biol.
(ˈændrəʊdʒən)
[f. andro- + -gen.]
A substance, as a male sex hormone, capable of developing and maintaining certain male sexual characteristics (cf. œstrogen). Hence androˈgenic a.
| 1936 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 18 July 212/2 The Nomenclature of ‘Male Hormones’..Androgen to designate substances possessing masculinizing activity. 1939 I. F. & W. D. Henderson Dict. Sci. Terms (ed. 3) 16/2 Androgenic, stimulating male characters; masculinising; appl. hormones; appl. tissue capable of elaborating an androgenic hormone. 1939 Lancet 22 Apr. 948/1, 50 mg. of testosterone is equivalent to 3500 I.U. of androgenic activity. 1946 Nature 24 Aug. 276/2 The significance of androgen and œstrogen excretion in the urine in relation to ageing. 1962 Lancet 1 Dec. 1166/1 The action of the œstrogens is far less specifically related to precise molecular structures than is that of the androgens or corticoids. |
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Add: Hence ˌandrogeˈnicity n., the property of producing a masculinizing effect resembling that of an androgen; the degree to which something produces a masculinizing effect; ˌandrogeniˈzation n., treatment with androgens; also, the development of male sexual characteristics, esp. after treatment with androgens; ˈandrogenized ppl. a., treated with androgens; also, possessing or having developed male sexual characteristics.
| 1957 Cancer X. 809/2 We have assigned a 2-plus androgenicity to testosterone. 1959 Proc. Staff Meetings Mayo Clinic XXIV. 124 Chemical alterations..which decrease androgenicity. 1963 D. C. Johnson in Endocrinology LXXII. 832/1 We propose to use the term ‘androgenized’ for those animals which have been subjected to increased amounts of androgen prior to final differentiation of the hypothalamic-hypophysial axis. 1963 Ibid. LXXIII. 467/2 Androgenization of females was accomplished by injecting 5-day-old animals with 2.5 mg of testosterone propionate. 1968 New England Jrnl. Med. 8 Feb. (Advt. facing p. 344), Mild androgenicity (hirsutism, deepened voice and menstrual irregularity) has been reported rarely. 1977 Lancet 24/31 Dec. 1361/2 The use of gonadotrophins after correction of cryptorchidism should not be contemplated until puberty because of the danger of premature androgenisation. 1990 H. J. Eysenck Rebel with Cause vi. 225 Many of the androgenized girls stated they would rather not have children. |