Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy.
Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Sex Med Rev. 2016 Jan;4(1):15-25. doi: 10.1016/j.sxmr.2015.10.007. Epub 2016 Jan 8.
Testosterone is fundamental for psychological, sexological, cognitive, and reproductive aspects, and its lack or reduction largely impacts the quality of life in males and females.
Therefore, the aim of this review is to describe the role of testosterone in the neurophysiology of the brain and related aspects regarding the quality of general and sexual life.
We listed and discussed the principal studies on the role of testosterone in the brain regarding sexual health, psychopathological conditions, and the elderly. The search strategies were composed by the insertion of specific terms in PubMed regarding the main studies from January 2000 to June 2015.
Using a psychoneuroendocrinologic perspective, we considered 4 main sections: brain and testosterone, sexuality and testosterone, psychopathology and testosterone, and cognitive impairment and testosterone.
Much evidence on the neuroendocrinology of testosterone regarding brain activity, sexual function, psychological health, and senescence was found. In any case, it is known that testosterone deficiency negatively impacts quality of life, first, but not exclusively, through a central effect. Moreover, testosterone and androgen receptors are differently expressed according to age and gender. This aspect contributes to gender differences and to the dimorphic physiological role of this hormone.
A universal role for testosterone can be recognized: low levels of testosterone are associated with mental disorders, sexual dysfunction, and cognitive impairment in both sexes. Hence, physicians should carefully assess testosterone levels, not only in the management of sexual dysfunctions but also when seeking to help patients with severe mental or organic diseases.
睾酮对心理、性学、认知和生殖方面至关重要，其缺乏或减少在很大程度上影响男性和女性的生活质量。
因此，本综述的目的是描述睾酮在大脑神经生理学及其对一般和性生活质量相关方面的作用。
我们列出并讨论了关于睾酮在大脑中对性健康、精神病理学状况和老年人的作用的主要研究。搜索策略由在 PubMed 中插入关于 2000 年 1 月至 2015 年 6 月主要研究的特定术语组成。
我们从心理神经内分泌学的角度考虑了 4 个主要部分：大脑和睾酮、性行为和睾酮、精神病理学和睾酮以及认知障碍和睾酮。
在大脑活动、性功能、心理健康和衰老方面的关于睾酮的神经内分泌学有大量的证据。在任何情况下，已知睾酮缺乏会通过中枢效应对生活质量产生负面影响，首先但不仅限于此。此外，睾酮和雄激素受体的表达根据年龄和性别而不同。这一方面导致了性别差异和这种激素的二态生理作用。
可以认识到睾酮的普遍作用：低水平的睾酮与男性和女性的精神障碍、性功能障碍和认知障碍有关。因此，医生不仅在性功能障碍的管理中，而且在寻求帮助患有严重精神或器质性疾病的患者时，都应仔细评估睾酮水平。
