Plasma testosterone levels during the menstrual cycle

Salivary Testosterone Levels and Pain Perception Exhibit Sex-Specific Association in Healthy Adults But Not in Patients With Migraine

This study investigated the sex-specific associations between pain perception and testosterone levels in healthy controls (HCs) and patients with migraine. Male and female HCs and migraine patients were recruited. A series of questionnaires were completed by the participants to evaluate their psychosocial profiles, which included data on mood, stress, and sleep quality. Heat pain thresholds and suprathreshold pain ratings at 45 °C (referred to as the pain perception score [PPS]) were assessed using the Thermode system. Salivary testosterone levels were analyzed using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. A total of 88 HCs (men/women: 41/47, age: 29.9 ± 7.7 years) and 75 migraine patients (men/women: 30/45, age: 31.1 ± 7.7 years) completed all assessments. No significant differences were observed in either the psychosocial profiles or heat pain thresholds and PPSs between the sexes in the control and migraine groups. A positive correlation between testosterone levels and PPSs was identified in the male controls (r = .341, P = .029), whereas a negative correlation was identified in the female controls (r = -.407, P = .005). No such correlations were identified in the migraine group. This study confirms that a negative association is present between PPSs and testosterone levels in female controls, which is in line with the findings that testosterone is associated with reduced pain perception. Our study is the first to demonstrate a sex-specific association between PPSs and testosterone levels in HCs. Moreover, this study also revealed that the presence of migraine appears to disrupt this association. PERSPECTIVE: This study revealed that testosterone levels demonstrate opposite associations with pain perception in healthy men and women. However, the presence of migraine appears to disrupt this sex-specific association.

Salivary testosterone is related to both handedness and degree of linguistic lateralization in normal women

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that individual differences in testosterone (T) are associated with different patterns of linguistic lateralization and hand preference. Twenty left-handed (LH) and 19 right-handed (RH) women filled in a handedness questionnaire and performed a consonant-vowel dichotic listening test (DL-CV). Salivary T was measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA). LH women showed significantly lower mean salivary T than RH women. T levels were negatively correlated with the absolute value of the DL laterality index. Subjects with right ear advantage (REA) were classified into strongly and weakly lateralized following Wexler et al. method (Brain Lang. 13 (1981) 13). When taking into account hand preference, a pattern emerged in that RH-strongly lateralized and LH-weakly lateralized women showed similar T levels. The lowest level appeared for LH-strongly lateralized women and the highest for RH-weakly lateralized women, being significantly different from each other. The results are discussed in terms of several theories that have proposed a link between testosterone and cerebral lateralization.

Salivary testosterone levels in left- and right-handed adults

It has been proposed that prenatal testosterone (T) may contribute to the development of hand preference and cerebral functional asymmetry in humans. To investigate any persisting association between T and asymmetry in adulthood, left-handed (LH) and right-handed (RH) men and women were administered a hand preference questionnaire and the Fused Dichotic Words Test. Testosterone was measured in samples of saliva. Results showed that LH subjects of both sexes had lower salivary T concentrations than their RH counterparts. Among LH males, subjects with a right-ear advantage in dichotic listening tended to have lower T concentrations than subjects with a left-ear advantage. These results are consistent with the notion that T may be involved in the development of hand preference and cerebral functional asymmetry.

Studies on ovarian and adrenal steroids at different phases of the menstrual cycle: II. A comparative assessment of the circadian variation in steroid and lutropin levels during the follicular, periovulatory and luteal phases

In six normally menstruating women, ovarian and adrenal steroids and biologically active lutropin (LH) were measured in peripheral plasma samples collected every 3 h. during a period of 39 h. in the early follicular phase, periovulatory period or luteal phase of three consecutive cycles. The purpose of the study was to assess the influence of the phases of the cycle on the diurnal variation in the levels of different steroids and lutropin following the elimination of the between subject variation. Cortisol, 17-hydroxypregnenolone, dehydroepiandrosterone and androstenedione showed a marked circadian rhythm in all three phases of the cycle. No changes in the levels of cortisol, 17-hydroxypregnenolone and dehydroepiandrosterone with the phase of the cycle were observed when the "morning" samples were considered; however, when the "evening" samples were analyzed, the levels of these steroids were higher in the luteal phase than in the follicular phase. As a result of this increase, the amplitude of the circadian rhythm of these steroids considerably decreased in the luteal phase. The "morning" as well as the "evening" increase observed in the levels of androstenedione during the periovulatory period was not able to mask the circadian rhythm. A circadian rhythm in pregnenolone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, testosterone, and dihydrotestosterone levels was detected only in certain phases of the cycle. All these steroids showed a circadian rhythm in the early follicular phase. The rhythm of pregnenolone and 17-hydroxyprogesterone was still present in the periovulatory period but was no longer detectable in the luteal phase, meanwhile that of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone was not demonstrable neither in the periovulatory period nor in the luteal phase. Compared to the levels of the follicular phase, an increase in pregnenolone and 17-hydroxyprogesterone levels was observed in the periovulatory period which was followed by a further rise in the luteal phase. This increase completely masked the circadian rhythm in the luteal phase. An inverse circadian rhythm in lutropin levels was detected during the luteal phase. The "morning" values were lower than those found during the "evening" period. No such changes were observed in the other phases of the cycle. In none of the phases studied did the levels of progesterone or estradiol show any circadian variation. The data indicate that a circadian rhythm in the peripheral levels of a given steroid mainly depends on the relative contributions of the ovaries and adrenals and that these contributions exhibit major differences at the various phases of the cycles. It is concluded that - in contradistinction to the situation in the human male - in normally menstruating women, the peripheral levels of steroids of predominantly gonadal origin do not exhibit a circadian rhythmicity.

Testosterone in human saliva

Testosterone has been detected in whole human saliva. Levels averaged (+/- SE) 295 +/- 36 and 195 +/- 25 pg/ml in adult males and females, respectively, and usually were undetectable in children. In adult males, the excretion of testosterone in saliva appeared to follow a circadian rhythm.

Plasma androgen levels during the menstrual cycle

Utilizing RIA methods, T, DHT, delta 4, and DHEA levels were determined daily during a complete cycle in 15 normal young women with apparently normal ovulatory cycles. T, DHT, and delta 4 levels showed statistically significant cyclical variations, with highest values in the periovulatory period and lowest values in early follicular and late luteal phase. DHEA levels showed random variations during the cycle. The failure to detect these variations by some authors may be related to the relatively large interindividual variation in plasma levels.