| Title: | Sources of variance within and among young men in concentrations of 17beta-estradiol and testosterone in axillary perspiration |
| Author(s): | Elliott B; Muir C; Decatanzaro D; |
| Address: | "Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada. Department of Psychology, Centre for Neuroscience, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada. Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada. Electronic address: decatanz@mcmaster.ca" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.01.036 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1873-507X (Electronic) 0031-9384 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The most potent estrogen, 17beta-estradiol (E(2)), and its precursor, testosterone (T), play critical roles in mammalian reproductive processes. Evidence indicates that these steroids are present in bioactive form in the excretions of many male mammals. It has been demonstrated that small lipophilic steroids such as E(2) can be absorbed by proximate females from male excretions, arriving in the uterus, brain, and other organs where there are estrogen receptors. We took repeated samples of axillary perspiration from men aged 20-30years during vigorous exercise. Both steroids were consistently measurable, with concentrations that ranged from values comparable to those in facial perspiration and urine of both men and women to values that greatly exceeded concentrations observed in any other substrate of men and women. Inter-individual variance in axillary E(2) was positively correlated with the extent of intimate experience with women, as assessed by a questionnaire, but unrelated to subjective measures of stress, exercise habits, or phytoestrogen content of diet. In addition, higher levels of axillary E(2) were observed in participants when samples were collected by a female (as compared to a male) experimenter. These data are concordant with an hypothesis that male excretion of sex steroids could exert pro-reproductive influences on proximate females" |
| Keywords: | Adult *Axilla Estradiol/*metabolism Exercise/*physiology Humans Male Reproductive Behavior/*psychology Statistics as Topic Surveys and Questionnaires Sweating/*physiology Testosterone/*metabolism Young Adult Axilla Estradiol Perspiration Pheromones Testos;Neuroscience; |
| Notes: | "MedlineElliott, Brittney Muir, Cameron deCatanzaro, Denys eng 2017/01/26 Physiol Behav. 2017 May 1; 173:23-29. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.01.036. Epub 2017 Jan 21" |
