Dana Gold
09-21-05, 05:47 PM
Excerpts from article link below:
How do sex hormones such as androgens and estrogens reach their final destination in the body? Scientists in Germany and Denmark have unravelled a new mechanism of how sex hormones enter those cells that are in need of them. They have been able to demonstrate that a receptor called megalin (Greek: mega = "big") on the surface of these cells is able to recognize the transport particle that cargoes steroid hormones in the bloodstream, steering this package loaded with hormones into the cell. Thus, Megalin actually functions as a reception for delivery of sex hormones. Up until now, scientists assumed that steroid hormones simply flood all cells, regardless of whether they are needed or not. "
Dr. Hammes and her colleagues were able to demonstrate that megalin recognizes SHBG with its hormone cargo and transports it into steroid-dependent cells. Mice which lack megalin are unable to take up sex hormones. As a consequence of this defect, their reproductive organs are incompletely developed and the animals are infertile.
Impaired development of the reproductive organs in mice lacking megalin, an endocytic receptor for steroid hormones"
http://www.idw-online.de/pages/de/news127321
How do sex hormones such as androgens and estrogens reach their final destination in the body? Scientists in Germany and Denmark have unravelled a new mechanism of how sex hormones enter those cells that are in need of them. They have been able to demonstrate that a receptor called megalin (Greek: mega = "big") on the surface of these cells is able to recognize the transport particle that cargoes steroid hormones in the bloodstream, steering this package loaded with hormones into the cell. Thus, Megalin actually functions as a reception for delivery of sex hormones. Up until now, scientists assumed that steroid hormones simply flood all cells, regardless of whether they are needed or not. "
Dr. Hammes and her colleagues were able to demonstrate that megalin recognizes SHBG with its hormone cargo and transports it into steroid-dependent cells. Mice which lack megalin are unable to take up sex hormones. As a consequence of this defect, their reproductive organs are incompletely developed and the animals are infertile.
Impaired development of the reproductive organs in mice lacking megalin, an endocytic receptor for steroid hormones"
http://www.idw-online.de/pages/de/news127321