Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-23T08:21:14.694Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 42 - Hormones and Female Sexuality

from Section 2C - Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare: Infertility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2024

By
Elisa Maseroli  and
Linda Vignozzi
Edited by
Johannes Bitzer  and
Tahir A. Mahmood
Johannes Bitzer
Affiliation:
University Women's Hospital, Basel
Tahir A. Mahmood
Affiliation:
Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
Get access

Summary

It has been known since the time of Aristotle that the ovaries are involved not only in reproduction but also in regulating female sexual behavior. In the late nineteenth century French physician Roberts reported that Indian women who suffered ovariectomy before puberty had no menstruation or sex drive. Subsequently Knauer restored estrous cyclicity and sexual behavior in ovariectomized dogs, rabbits, and guinea pigs by grafting ovaries into their abdominal cavity, and Brown-Séquard claimed multiple injections of rodent ovarian extracts could re-feminize ovariectomized women.

Type
Chapter
Information
Textbook of Contraception, Sexual and Reproductive Health , pp. 256 - 266
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Pfaus, JG, Jones, SL, Flanagan-Cato, LM, Blaustein, JD. Female sexual behavior. In Plant, TM, Zeleznik, AJ (eds.). Knobil and Neill’s physiology of reproduction. 4th edition. Cambridge: Academic Press, 2015, pp. 2287–2370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulun, SE, Adashi, E. The physiology and pathology of the female reproductive axis. In Kronenberg, HM, Melmed, S, Polonsky, KS, Larsen, PR (eds.). Williams textbook of endocrinology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Health Sciences, 2007, pp. 587–663.Google Scholar
Cellai, I, Di Stasi, V, Comeglio, P et al. Insight on the intracrinology of menopause: Androgen production within the human vagina. Endocrinology. 2020:bqaa219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maseroli, E, Vignozzi, L. Testosterone and vaginal function. Sex Med Rev. 2020;8(3):379–92.Google ScholarPubMed
Clayton, AH, Vignozzi, L. Pathophysiology and medical management of hypoactive sexual desire disorder. In Goldstein, I, Clayton, AH, Goldstein, AT, Kim, NN, Kingsberg, SA (eds.). Textbook of female sexual function and dysfunction. Oxford: Wiley, 2018, pp. 59–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wierman, ME. Sex steroid effects at target tissues: Mechanisms of action. Adv Physiol Educ. 2007;31(1):26–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McEwen, BS, Milner, TA. Understanding the broad influence of sex hormones and sex differences in the brain. J Neurosci Res. 2017;95:24–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pletzer, B, Harris, TA, Scheuringer, A, Hidalgo-Lopez, E. The cycling brain: Menstrual cycle related fluctuations in hippocampal and fronto-striatal activation and connectivity during cognitive tasks. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2019;44(11):1867–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slob, AK, Ernste, M, Van der Werff ten Bosch, JJ. Menstrual cycle phase and sexual arousability in women. Arch Sex Behav. 1991;20(6):567–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davison, SL, Bell, R, Donath, S, Montalto, JG, Davis, SR. Androgen levels in adult females: Changes with age, menopause, and oophorectomy. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005;90(7):3847–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simon, JA, Goldstein, I, Kim, NN et al. The role of androgens in the treatment of genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM): International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWSH) expert consensus panel review. Menopause. 2018;25(7):837–47.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th edition, text rev. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000.Google Scholar
Basson, R. Rethinking low sexual desire in women. BJOG. 2002;109(4):357–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carpenter, D, Janssen, E, Graham, C, Vorst, H, Wicherts, J. Women’s scores on the sexual inhibition/sexual excitation scales (SIS/SES): Gender similarities and differences. J Sex Res. 2008;45(1):36–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perelman, MA. Why the Sexual Tipping Point® Model? Curr Sex Health Rep. 2016;8:39–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traish, AM, Botchevar, E, Kim, NN. Biochemical factors modulating female genital sexual arousal physiology. J Sex Med. 2010;7(9):2925–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salonia, A, Giraldi, A, Chivers, ML et al. Physiology of women’s sexual function: Basic knowledge and new findings. J Sex Med. 2010;7(8):2637–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maseroli, E, Santangelo, A, Lara-Fontes, B et al. The non-aromatizable androgen dihydrotestosterone (DHT) facilitates sexual behavior in ovariectomized female rats primed with estradiol. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2020;115:104606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jennings, KJ, de Lecea, L. Neural and hormonal control of sexual behavior. Endocrinology. 2020;161(10):bqaa150.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Domínguez-Salazar, E, Camacho, FJ, Paredes, RG. Prenatal blockade of androgen receptors reduces the number of intromissions needed to induce conditioned place preference after paced mating in female rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2005;81(4):871–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Traish, AM, Vignozzi, L, Simon, JA, Goldstein, I, Kim, NN. Role of androgens in female genitourinary tissue structure and function: Implications in the genitourinary syndrome of menopause. Sex Med Rev. 2018;6(4):558–71.Google ScholarPubMed
Maseroli, E, Vignozzi, L. Testosterone and vaginal function. Sex Med Rev. 2020;8(3):379–92.Google ScholarPubMed
Maseroli, E, Cellai, I, Filippi, S et al. Anti-inflammatory effects of androgens in the human vagina. J Mol Endocrinol. 2020;65(3):109–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Comeglio, P, Cellai, I, Filippi, S et al. Differential effects of testosterone and estradiol on clitoral function: An experimental study in rats. J Sex Med. 2016;13(12):1858–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Traish, AM, Kim, N, Min, K, Munarriz, R, Goldstein, I. Role of androgens in female genital sexual arousal: Receptor expression, structure, and function. Fertil Steril. 2002;77(Suppl 4):S11–S18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zheng, J, Islam, RM, Skiba, MA, Bell, RJ, Davis, SR. Associations between androgens and sexual function in premenopausal women: A cross-sectional study. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2020;8(8):693–702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Islam, RM, Bell, RJ, Green, S, Page, MJ, Davis, SR. Safety and efficacy of testosterone for women: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trial data. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2019;7(10):754–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, SR, Baber, R, Panay, N et al. Global consensus position statement on the use of testosterone therapy for women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2019;104(10):4660–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scavello, I, Maseroli, E, Di Stasi, V, Vignozzi, L. Sexual health in menopause. Medicina (Kaunas). 2019;55(9):559.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nastri, CO, Lara, LA, Ferriani, RA et al. Hormone therapy for sexual function in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013;(6):CD009672.Google ScholarPubMed
The 2017 hormone therapy position statement of the North American Menopause Society. Menopause. 2018;25(11):1362–87.Google Scholar
Stuenkel, CA, Davis, SR, Gompel, A et al. Treatment of symptoms of the menopause: An Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2015;100(11):3975–4011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Labrie, F, Derogatis, L, Archer, DF et al. Effect of intravaginal prasterone on sexual dysfunction in postmenopausal women with vulvovaginal atrophy. J Sex Med. 2015;12(12):2401–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×