sex hormone sex hormone sex hormones, also known as sex steroids, gonadocorticoids and gonadal steroids, are steroid hormones that interact with vertebrate steroid hormone receptors. the sex hormones include the androgens, estrogens, and progestogens. their effects are mediated by slow genomic mechanisms through nuclear receptors as well as by fast nongenomic mechanisms through membrane-associated receptors and signaling cascades. the polypeptide hormones luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone and gonadotropin-releasing hormone – each associated with the gonadotropin axis – are usually not regarded as sex hormones, although they play major sex-related roles. sex hormonedrug classestradiol, an important estrogen sex hormone in both women and menclass identifierssynonymssex steroid; gonadal steroidusevariousbiological targetsex hormone receptorschemical classsteroidal; nonsteroidalin wikidata production natural sex hormones are made by the gonads (ovaries or testes), by adrenal glands, or by conversion from other sex steroids in other tissue such as liver or fat. production rates, secretion rates, clearance rates, and blood levels of major sex hormones sex sex hormone reproductivephase bloodproduction rate gonadalsecretion rate metabolicclearance rate reference range (serum levels) si units non-si units men androstenedione – 2.8 mg/day 1.6 mg/day 2200 l/day 2.8–7.3 nmol/l 80–210 ng/dl testosterone – 6.5 mg/day 6.2 mg/day 950 l/day 6.9–34.7 nmol/l 200–1000 ng/dl estrone – 150 μg/day 110 μg/day 2050 l/day 37–250 pmol/l 10–70 pg/ml estradiol – 60 μg/day 50 μg/day 1600 l/day <37–210 pmol/l 10–57 pg/ml estrone sulfate – 80 μg/day insignificant 167 l/day 600–2500 pmol/l 200–900 pg/ml women androstenedione – 3.2 mg/day 2.8 mg/day 2000 l/day 3.1–12.2 nmol/l 89–350 ng/dl testosterone – 190 μg/day 60 μg/day 500 l/day 0.7–2.8 nmol/l 20–81 ng/dl estrone follicular phase 110 μg/day 80 μg/day 2200 l/day 110–400 pmol/l 30–110 pg/ml luteal phase 260 μg/day 150 μg/day 2200 l/day 310–660 pmol/l 80–180 pg/ml postmenopause 40 μg/day insignificant 1610 l/day 22–230 pmol/l 6–60 pg/ml estradiol follicular phase 90 μg/day 80 μg/day 1200 l/day <37–360 pmol/l 10–98 pg/ml luteal phase 250 μg/day 240 μg/day 1200 l/day 699–1250 pmol/l 190–341 pg/ml postmenopause 6 μg/day insignificant 910 l/day <37–140 pmol/l 10–38 pg/ml estrone sulfate follicular phase 100 μg/day insignificant 146 l/day 700–3600 pmol/l 250–1300 pg/ml luteal phase 180 μg/day insignificant 146 l/day 1100–7300 pmol/l 400–2600 pg/ml progesterone follicular phase 2 mg/day 1.7 mg/day 2100 l/day 0.3–3 nmol/l 0.1–0.9 ng/ml luteal phase 25 mg/day 24 mg/day 2100 l/day 19–45 nmol/l 6–14 ng/ml notes and sources notes: "the concentration of a steroid in the circulation is determined by the rate at which it is secreted from glands, the rate of metabolism of precursor or prehormones into the steroid, and the rate at which it is extracted by tissues and metabolized. the secretion rate of a steroid refers to the total secretion of the compound from a gland per unit time. secretion rates have been assessed by sampling the venous effluent from a gland over time and subtracting out the arterial and peripheral venous hormone concentration. the metabolic clearance rate of a steroid is defined as the volume of blood that has been completely cleared of the hormone per unit time. the production rate of a steroid hormone refers to entry into the blood of the compound from all possible sources, including secretion from glands and conversion of prohormones into the steroid of interest. at steady state, the amount of hormone entering the blood from all sources will be equal to the rate at which it is being cleared (metabolic clearance rate) multiplied by blood concentration (production rate = metabolic clearance rate × concentration). if there is little contribution of prohormone metabolism to the circulating pool of steroid, then the production rate will approximate the secretion rate." sources: see template. types in many contexts, the two main classes of sex hormones are androgens and estrogens, of which the most important human derivatives are testosterone and estradiol, respectively. other contexts will include progestogens as a third class of sex steroids, distinct from androgens and estrogens. progesterone is the most important and only naturally occurring human progestogen. in general, androgens are considered "male sex hormones", since they have masculinizing effects, while estrogens and progestogens are considered "female sex hormones" although all types are present in each sex at different levels. sex hormones include: progestogens pregnenolone → progesterone → allopregnanedione → allopregnanolone 17α-hydroxypregnenolone → 17α-hydroxyprogesterone androgens dehydroepiandrosterone → androstenedione → androstanedione → androsterone androstenediol → testosterone → dihydrotestosterone → androstanediol estrogens 2-hydroxyestrone ← estrone → 16α-hydroxyestrone 2-hydroxyestradiol ← estradiol → estriol → estetrol synthetic sex steroids there are also many synthetic sex steroids. synthetic androgens are often referred to as anabolic steroids. synthetic estrogens and progestins are used in methods of hormonal contraception. ethinylestradiol is a semi-synthetic estrogen. specific compounds that have partial agonist activity for steroid receptors, and therefore act in part like natural steroid hormones, are in use in medical conditions that require treatment with steroid in one cell type, but where systemic effects of the particular steroid in the entire organism are only desirable within certain limits.