TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's top research institute found an anaerobic bacteria which can turn estrogens into androgens and vice versa, shedding light on future treatments for hair loss in men and for alleviating menopause symptoms in women.
The retroconversion of estrogens into androgens through a biochemical mechanism has long been considered impossible, but a team led by Academia Sinica Biodiversity Research Center Associate Research Fellow Chiang Yin-ru (江殷儒) surprisingly found that there exists a bacteria which can carry out the process.
Chiang said the team had originally planned to study the environmental impacts of endocrine-disrupting chemicals by collecting dust samples from riverbed sediment in Taipei, but they accidentally found that an anaerobic bacterial strain — Denitratisoma sp. strain DHT3 — can help transform estrogens into androgens through cobalamin-dependent methylation in the presence of Vitamin B12.
The team noted that similar bacteria exist in human gastrointestinal tracts, such as methanogenic archaea and homoacetogenic bacteria, so the team assumes that there are some bacteria in the human body capable of transforming androgens into estrogens and vice versa. The team believes such bacteria can be developed as a health product.
"If the process can be realized in the gastrointestinal tract and accordingly accumulate a larger amount of estrogen, it will benefit not only males troubled with hair loss but also females suffering from menopause-related discomfort.
The research results were published in the peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary scientific journal, PNAS. The team says they will continue to investigate the bacterial community in the gastrointestinal tract in order to learn how the biochemical mechanisms affect hormonal balance.
