Testosterone is a hormone that is produced by specific glands in human body by both sexes. It regulates both sexually related and non-sexually related mechanisms. This happen by binding to receptors in several tissues of the body, such as brain, heart, lungs, muscles, bones, skin, sexual organs, and others. In bones, testosterone binds to receptors within osteoblasts. The osteoblast is stimulated to incorporate calcium and other proteins to form new bone tissue. In red blood cells, testosterone binding results in an increased hemoglobin concentration. Testosterone is one of the principal male sex hormone. It plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as the testis and prostate as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristics such as increased muscle, bone mass and the growth of body-hair.
Testosterone is classified as a steroid due to its molecular structure. A steroid represent any chemical that possesses the specific four-ring molecular structure. Testosterone’s chemical name is 17-beta-hydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one.
As a steroid – testosterone make part from the androgen class of hormones. Synthetic analogs of natural testosterone produced by human body is anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) that is widely used in sport especially in bodybuilding.
Testosterone characteristics cause building effects on the body. Prolonged protein synthesis can result in enhanced muscle mass and strength, especially when combined with athletic and weight training. Testosterone help to retein nitrogen in the muscle, and the more nitrogen the muscles contains the more protein the muscle stores, and the bigger the muscle gets. Testosterone also help to increase the activity of satellite cells. These cells play a very active role in repairing damaged muscle.