Testosterone is a male hormone and its presence can briefly be explained in various development stages:

  • Its being produces first in a male fetus just seven weeks after conception.

  • In adolescents testosterone changes the voice of a teenage boy, makes his muscles fill out, and stimulates his sex drive.

  • In adult men, the hormone plays a role in maintaining muscle mass and strength, fat distribution, bone strength, making one to fee more aggressive and red blood cell production, as well as libido and sperm production..
  • Men hit their peak with testosterone at about age 17.

  • Levels plateau for a while, and then slowly start to slide in their 30s and 40s.

  • By the time a man reaches 80, his testosterone level will be about half of what it was when he was a young man.

In both males and females, Testosterone plays key roles in health and well-being. Examples include enhanced libido, energy, immune function, and protection against osteoporosis. On average, the adult male body produces about twenty to thirty times the amount of testosterone that an adult female’s body does

Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group. It is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females although small amounts are secreted by the adrenal glands. It is the principal male sex hormone and an anabolic steroid.

Like other steroid hormones, testosterone is derived from cholesterol. The largest amounts of testosterone are produced by the testes in men, but it is also synthesized in smaller quantities in women by the thecal cells of the ovaries, by the placenta, as well as by the zona reticularis of the adrenal cortex in both sexes.

In the testes, testosterone is produced by the Leydig cells. The male generative glands also contain Sertoli cells which require testosterone for spermatogenesis. Like most hormones, testosterone is supplied to target tissues in the blood where much of it is transported bound to a specific plasma protein, sex hormone binding globulin.