Is testosterone hormone promote remyelin?

[febausa]

I have a question:

Is testosterone hormone promote remyelin?

[MSer102]

I think if it did we would all know about it and already be using it. And since we don't and aren't then maybe it doesn't.

[diggstech]

There was a paper published in 2007 that suggested that testosterone was neuroprotective based on a small clinical experiment but no follow up. Authors seemed to think it could account for predominantly female population of early age onset RRMS. Relapse rates went down on males given testosterone vs placebo but as I said, nothing further since then.

[febausa]

I have other 2013 publication

The publication "The Neural Androgen Receptor" publish 2013 is very interesting.

You find this article in medscape.com

What you think about this?

[fishead]

Well female hormones have shown to supress MS. I suppose anything can be "shown" to help.

[MSW1963]

BCs keep the female body in a simulated state of pregnancy.

I'm curious if that results in the immune system suppression similar to actual pregnancy?

Is it the hormones or the immune system suppression that results from hormones in BCs?

[MSW1963]

febausa...

I'm very interested in this topic, and think it might get more feedback/attention in the General Discussion forum, if you don't mind and moderators are willing to move it to GD.

[febausa]

I want move to General Discusion

I want move this topic to General Discusion

[MSer102]

I don't understand. The original question was about testosterone but now we're talking about birth control pills. Is there testosterone in BCP's? There wasn't a looong time ago when I was a fertile young thing.

[MSW1963]

MSer102 I don't understand. The original question was about testosterone but now we're talking about birth control pills. Is there testosterone in BCP's? There wasn't a looong time ago when I was a fertile young thing.

fishead's comment about the possibility of female hormones suppressing MS, I understood to be a reference to the therapeutic use of BCs by some MS doc's to control MS sx's in women who are more symptomatic when hormone levels fluctuate during ovulation.

One of the theories in MS gender differences is that during pregnancy the immune system is suppressed, otherwise the fetus would be rejected as foreign because it's biological origin is from the father.

For a period of up to 6 months following delivery, the immune system is restored and is a time of MS exacerbations in women.

The BC connection is related to the possibility that suppression of the immune system during the simulated state of pregnancy via BCs and the immune system suppression that occurs during actual pregnancy.

I've always heard/assumed that BCs stabilize hormone levels versus the possibility of the simulated state of pregnancy via BCs supresses the immune system.

None of which has anything to do with testosterone and remylination. Sorry for the confusion.

[mj30walls]

I have had Testosterone implants every six months for the past 2 years. I don't know about remylination, but it really helps with low libido which was a good thing because I didn't have any libido. I also walked better and had more energy.

I wasn't a part of any study, these are just some advantages I experienced. They, of course, wane as the pellet dissolves. And I return to my stumbly, tired ways.

Good luck with your research

[Myoak]

This 2013 study suggests that male hormones could be used to promote myelin repair but it is unlikely any company will fund a costly large trial to firmly establish outcomes since there would be limited to zero profit: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23365095. A drug company would be more interested in something that worked half as well if they could patent it and price it 500 times cost.

"These data establish the efficacy of androgens as remyelinating agents and qualify the brain androgen receptor as a promising drug target for remyelination therapy, thus providing the preclinical rationale for a novel therapeutic use of androgens in males with multiple sclerosis."