This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Women's Sexual Function  • Alert me on articles by topic

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: In their study comparing androgen levels with self-reported sexual function in women, Dr Davis and colleagues¹ refer to dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfated ester (DHEAS) as androgens. This is not true because these steroids have little or no affinity for the androgen receptor, nor do they have any intrinsic androgenic effects. To date, only 2 DHEA receptors have been described in vascular endothelium² and murine T cells.³ It is the peripheral conversion to androgens and estrogens that is thought to lead to their effects on peripheral tissues.

Moreover, the DHEA that is found within brain tissue is not derived from the peripheral circulation but is formed de novo from its steroid precursor, 17-hydroxypregnenolone, and then broken down to increase local levels of sex hormones.⁴ Peripheral measurements of these hormones may thus not be representative of levels found within the areas of the brain responsible for sexuality and . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Ketan Dhatariya, MBBS, MRCP, MSc, MD, MS
ketan.dhatariya@nnuh.nhs.uk
Elsie Bertram Diabetes Centre
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust
Norwich, Norfolk, England

RELATED ARTICLES

Self-reported Sexual Function in Women and Androgen Levels—Reply
Susan R. Davis, Sonia L. Davison, Susan Donath, and Robin J. Bell
JAMA. 2005;294(17):2168.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Circulating Androgen Levels and Self-reported Sexual Function in Women
Susan R. Davis, Sonia L. Davison, Susan Donath, and Robin J. Bell
JAMA. 2005;294(1):91-96.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT