testosterone Biol.
(tɛˈstɒstərəʊn)
[a. G. testosteron (K. David et al. 1935, in Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem. CCXXXIII. 281): see testis2 and -sterone.]
a. A steroid hormone that stimulates the development of male secondary sexual characteristics and which is produced in the testes, and, in very much smaller quantities, in the ovaries and adrenal cortex.
| 1935 Chem. Abstr. XXIX. 5165 (heading) Crystalline male hormone from testes (testosterone), more active than androsterone prepared from urine or cholesterol. 1939 A. Huxley After Many a Summer ii. vi. 234 With a course of thiamin chloride and some testosterone I could have made him as happy as a sand-boy. 1947 Nature 4 Jan. 15/1 Many mammary cancers would regress when the influence of the female sex hormone was lessened by removal of the ovaries or by injections of testosterone. 1961 New Scientist 9 Nov. 340/1 Naturally occurring steroid sex hormones can inhibit ovulation... Testosterone, progesterone and the oestrogens fall into this group. 1969 Nature 6 Dec. 945/1 Celibacy apparently has no effect on the androgens, for most of the monks excreted as much testosterone—the most potent naturally occurring androgen—as normal sexually active males. 1976 Maclean's Mag. 3 May 60/3 Among women virilized in the womb from an excess of testosterone (the male sex hormone), 60% registered IQs over 110. |
b. testosterone propionate, the propionic acid ester of testosterone, given parenterally as a longer-lasting alternative to testosterone.
| 1937 Proc. R. Soc. B. CXXIV. 363 Six normally cyclic rats..were injected daily for 10 days with 0·2 mg. of testosterone propionate. 1941 [see premenopause]. 1970 Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. II. xii. 11/2 Testosterone propionate, given intramuscularly in oily solution, is active over a period of 1–3 days. |