Question

What are sex hormones? Describe any one male and one female sex hormones.

Answer 1

“Hormones” are chemical substances which act like messenger molecules of the body. After being made in one part of the body, they travel to other parts of the body where they help control how cells and organs do their work.

Complete answer:

1. Sex Hormones: Sex hormones also known as sex steroids, are the crucial hormones for the proper development and function of the body. They regulate sexual differentiation, the secondary sexual characteristics, and sexual behaviour patterns. Sex hormones production is sexually dimorphic, and involves differences not only in hormonal action but also in regulation and temporal patterns of production.
2. Testosterone is a type of male hormone in the human body. It is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid. Leydig cells in testes produce this hormone. In male humans, testosterone plays an important role in the development of male reproductive tissues/organs such as testes and prostate. It also promotes secondary sexual characteristics such as increase in total muscle and bone mass during puberty/adolescence and the growth of body hair.
3. Estrogen is a type of female hormone, it’s a type of steroid compound that is important for development and functioning of females of the species. It plays an important role in the estrous cycle and helps develop secondary sexual characters in female humans. Estrogens are produced primarily by the ovaries. They are released by the follicles on the ovaries and are also secreted by the corpus luteum after the egg has been released from the follicle and from the placenta.

Note: Testosterone is an androgen found in both men and women. In female bodies, testosterone is converted quickly into estrogen, while in men it remains mostly as testosterone. In women, it plays a role in reproduction, growth, and general health.