Testosterone can protect the brain from mild hypoxia study suggests

Testosterone levels can be used as a self-assessment tool to help predict how well people will do on a simple task test according to a new study of male and female subjects from the University of Texas at Dallas Homoeorgativity 2nd Edition.

The paper Testosterone levels and cognitive performance predict inguinal neural outcome in women and men with or without gender-affecting hormone: systematic review and meta-analysis of the RESEARCH 2 and 3 studies is published in the Journal of Patient Education in Sports and Exercise a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert Inc. publishers.

Testosterone is widely used as a self-help hormone in popular culture said study co-author Janet Heiman Ph. D. an assistant professor of Kinesiology and Health in the College of Arts and Sciences at UT Dallas. But what if you want to determine if you have normal testosterone levels and healthy levels of cognitive function and behavior? The question is do you have normal levels of testosterone and do you have mild hypoxia? Testosterone levels are difficult to measure and assess. This study suggests it does the same for test performance.

Testosterone is naturally produced in part by adrenal glands. As men are males testosterone production is mediated by the pituitary gland. Testosterone is only formed by a woman if she has low ovarian function or occurs in the last trimester before delivery.

For the current analysis researchers used the three RESEARCH 2 and 3 databases which contain data on quantitative data from 17576 participants. The production and function of various elements of the hypothalamus the pituitary and the adrenal gland as well as the catheters running oxygen and nitrogenous flow through these organs were measured in saliva.

Testosterone levels were generally within the normal range in all areas except the liver which is elevated during the menopause transition. However levels of the hormone rose significantly over time in women who had hypoxia: volunteers who had no hypoxia had test scores that averaged higher than those who had hypoxia. Testosterone levels tended to rise and fall dramatically in women who had hypoxia. When the subjects who had hypoxia had testosterone levels that rose significantly these subjects averaged 30 percent higher test scores on the original test and their levels rose to 32 percent higher than normals.

Our test results suggest reduced parasympathetic activity causes decreased peripheral and central PET testosterone levels study commander Dr. Lonnie G. Griffin Ph. D. Leslie H. Tunney Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at UTA said in a statement. In the context of women and men who have gender-disaggregated testosterone levels our results suggest testosterone levels near the testosterone target may be useful during assessing individuals with mild hypoxic conditions such as hypoxia impacting ability to perform once daily tasks.