Types of Testosterone
Testosterone is a naturally occurring hormone produced by mammals. Doctors have prescribed it for a number of medical uses, chief among them hormone replacement therapy. As a drug, pharmaceutical companies manufacture testosterone in a number of different molecular forms. Testosterone is also manufactured in various ways that can affect how and how often an individual must take it.
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What Is Testosterone?
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Testosterone is a hormone produced in the testes of mammalian males, and in much smaller amounts by ovaries in females, and by the adrenal glands of both sexes. In the male body, it functions to produce semen. It also functions as an androgen, stimulating muscle growth by increasing protein synthesis. Testosterone also promotes bone density (and concurrently prevents osteoporosis). During puberty, it produces masculine characteristics in males, including increased facial and bodily hair and a deeper voice.
Medical Uses
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Testosterone has a number of indicated medical uses. The body's natural production of testosterone decreases by about 2 percent each year after age 25. Because of this decline, many men suffer from reduced libido, a decreased bone density, loss of skeletal muscle mass. Doctors prescribe testosterone to reverse these effects and help older men improve quality of life.
Adolescents suffering from delayed-onset puberty have also been prescribed testosterone. Because testosterone promotes protein synthesis in the muscles (its anabolic effect), doctors have prescribed it to HIV-positive patients suffering from the muscle-wasting effects of AIDS.
Another medical use involves the treatment of pituitary or hypothalamic injuries resulting from tumors, trauma or radiation. Doctors have also administered testosterone to women suffering from breast cancer.
How much testosterone is prescribed and how often it is administered varies by individuals, and can depend on the type of testosterone. Typical dosage for hormone replacement therapy ranges from 50 mg to 400 mg every two to four weeks.
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Types of Pharmaceutical Testosterone
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Several pharmaceutical companies make testosterone in a number of chemically different forms. The four most widely manufactured are aqueous testosterone (the molecule suspended in water), testosterone cypionate, testosterone enanthate and testosterone propionate. The latter three are all suspended in oil. Aqueous testosterone is the testosterone molecule as it is produced in the body naturally. The remaining three types are all testosterone molecules with various ester molecules attached. Oral forms of testosterone are bound to molecules (such as a methyl-group) that increase their bio-availability.
Modes of Bio-Availability
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Pharmaceutical companies also manufacture the various forms of testosterone in a number of different ways based on how they get in the body. Each of the four main types of testosterone listed above come in solutions (oil or water) that must be injected directly into the muscle tissue.
Dianabol (methyl-testosterone), Andriol and Proviron are all examples of testosterone in oral form (pills you must swallow).
Additionally, testosterone is available in cream or spray form for hormone testosterone therapy. Some of these include androderm and androgel. It is also available as Striant, a buccal adhesive that you attach to the gum and allow to dissolve in the mouth.
How Often?
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What type of testosterone you take will determine the frequency of administration. Aqueous testosterone is easily broken down by the liver and needs to be injected frequently. Testosterone enanthate and cypionate, by contrast, have long half-lives as the attached ester molecules make it more difficult for the liver to break them down during a "first-pass" through that organ. These latter types are usually administered once every two to three weeks.
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