[Lotus]

Gggggrrrrrr !!! Lotus !!!!!! Will you stop talking like a professor in goobldigook. Language and instead plain english so idiots like can understand . At my age I don't want to tax my limited grey cells :p

I thought I did below.....plain terms??, there enzymes, think how aromatase or 5 alpha reductase inhibitors works (which are enzymes). It's much like those processes but 17-beta HSD's act like light switches, that is either on or off. Body builders manipulate certain designer steroids to enhance their programs with HSD's (Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases). Licorice root is one such example which affects cortisol (the stress hormone), 11β-HSD is (11 beta Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase). Certain NBE herbs can affect these enzymes, which we are already doing by utilizing them to control or affect DHT and aromatase.

Remember these "on and off" switches?, part of this good news, the other part.....not so good.

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The good news....…


the reductase responsible for the conversion of estrone (a weak estrogen) to 17b-estradiol (a potent estrogen) is the estrogenic type 1 17b-HSD and is the `on' switch for the estrogen receptor (ER). The oxidase activities responsible for the reverse reaction and the inactivation of 17b-estradiol are the type 2 and type 4 17b-HSDs, and these function as the `off' switch for the ER.

Thus, the activity of these 17b-HSD isoforms may regulate the ligand occupancy of ERa and ERb and their trans- activation in estrogen target tissues (Wu et al., 1993; Andersson, 1995; Labrie et al., 1997; 2000).

Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases and pre-receptor regulation of steroid hormone action http://humupd.oxfordjournals.org/content...3.full.pdf


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The not so good news.....

Phytoestrogens inhibit human 17b-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 5
http://www.brc.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~rb106x/pub...bition.pdf

This is a bit over simplified but Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases (HSDs) act like a gate-keeper just before steroids (hormones) bind to receptors (synthesis). Furthermore, these "gate-keepers" can flip the switch (a light switch) on/off to allow passage to the cell receptors. So in essence, they can inhibit or promote hormone activity. Finding a new class of HSD's is the next step, Aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) can help us get there.