what does estrogen do to your body now this is typically discussed as a female hormone and we'll definitely talk about its effects on the female body but we should probably also answer do males also produce estrogen and if so what would it do to them so in this video we're going to answer many of those questions and utilize the cadavers behind me like we typically do and take a look at multiple reproductive structures to help us answer these questions we'll also talk about some problems that could arise with estrogen if say like the levels got out of whack so let's jump right into this estrogen is one of the two main female sex hormones now if you know what the other main female sex hormone is go ahead and post that in the comments below and we'll pin the answer at the top of the comment section so you can see if you're correct but back to this word estrogen this is actually an umbrella term for multiple hormones that belong to this family there are three estrogens that are important to human physiology and that is estradiol estrone and estrel now estradiol is by far the most potent and so therefore the most significant but I'm still going to use the term estrogens throughout the remainder of this video but where are the estrogens produced well these are produced in significant amounts in this amazing structure here called the ovary now this is a right ovary as you're looking at A sagittal cut and into the right side of the pelvis here you can even see part of the uterus the bladder pubic bone and even the vaginal Canal but when the ovaries secrete the estrogens they're going to be released into the bloodstream so that means they can circulate throughout the entire body and have various effects and we'll talk about those effects but first let me mention that the estrogens can also be produced in the adrenal cortex now cortex just means the outer portion of an organ so we're talking about the outer region of the adrenal gland but keep in mind this is very small or minute amounts especially when we're comparing it to the amounts produced and secreted by the ovaries so in order for us to discuss the functions of the estrogens we have to discuss when the estrogens can actually function and that's because during childhood estrogens are only secreted in minute amounts so not going to do much at all but during that special time of life that we call puberty estrogens will increase by more than 20 fold in the female body and that is where some magic can happen everyone but when we're talking about estrogens and their levels have you ever wondered what your hormone levels are or what other tests or blood tests might reveal about you if you're like me and you've wondered that you might like the sponsor of this video let's get checked let's get checked provides professional health testing that is both easy and convenient one of their main missions is to help people avoid putting off testing and routine testing can be important for maintaining one's health 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into the functions of these estrogens remember during puberty we saw a greater than 20-fold increase in the levels of these hormones and this is going to cause amazingly awesome changes throughout the human body some of this includes that several of the female sex organs will increase several times in size and this includes organs such as the uterus that you can see here that I'm tracing with the probe and now lifting up with my finger even an increase in size in the uterine tube which also is referred to as the fallopian tube again you have to look closely because it's embedded in this tissue but I'm tracing the actual tube with the probe even the ovary if I can grab that will increase in size or I should say ovaries and the vaginal Canal or the vagina will increase in size external genitalia will increase in size like the labia majora and labia Menorah as well as get more increased fat deposition within those structures you'll also see more deposits of fat in this region region here referred to as the mons pubis which is just an elevated adipose tissue or fat pad next to this bone here that we call the pubic bone there will also be changes to the inside lining of the vaginal Canal that you can see here now the vaginal Canal or that inside lining is made up of epithelial tissue specifically it changes to a thicker type of epithelial tissue called stratified squamous epithelium stratified just means multiple layers squamous just means flat so you get multiple layers of flat cells and this is actually the same type of tissue that the outer layer of your skin the epidermis is made out of with some exception of the glands and secretions but the same epithelial tissue nonetheless which just like the skin this helps provide protection from infection as well as from friction and abrasion that could occur during intercourse the inside lining of the uterus will also change in the inside lining of the uterus which I'm touching with the probe here or inserting right there is called the endometrium now the endometrium is made up of epithelial tissue also what they call endometrial stroma which is kind of this vascular component lots of blood vessels as well as endometrial glands and those that endometrial stroma and the glands really start to change and proliferate during this Spike of estrogen because this is the area that's creating this nice little area where a fertilized egg could implant during baby time and we want that environment to be very pleasant to create a wonderful Cocoon of love for the baby or the developing fetus and speaking of fertilized eggs when sperm cells are lovingly deposited in the female reproductive tract they will eventually make it all the way up into this uterine tube that we talked about earlier and this is typically where fertilization takes place where the sperm cell unites with the ovum or the Egg and what's crazy about the effects of the estrogens is they will also change the inside lining of the uterine tube and increase the number of ciliated epithelial cells and it will also increase the action or the activity of these Celia now if you haven't heard of cilia before that's okay cilia are finger-like or hair-like projections that come off of the cells and they tend to have this beating action or this wave-like action that pushes substances across the surface of the cells and in this case it's really cool they beat in the direction which is towards the uterus so in other words they beat downward towards the uterus in this case so that the fertilized egg will get propelled down into the uterus so implantation and further development can occur estrogens initiate the growth of the breasts and the milk producing structures and so therefore is also responsible for the external appearance of the mature female breast however estrogens alone cannot fully convert the breasts into full milk producing organs you also need to Progesterone to get involved in completing this process and we will talk about progesterone in a future video but keep in mind it's also involved in the development of the breast tissue estrogens also have an amazing effect on bone tissue estrogens inhibit these cells called osteoclasts osteoclasts are bone cells that resorb or break down bone tissue so if the estrogens are inhibiting the activity of these bone cells that means bone growth can go up as well as bone density will be maintained or increased and that's a reason why females are eight times more likely than males to develop a disease or condition called osteoporosis and that's because during menopause estrogens or those levels of estrogens go down dramatically so you lose that protective effect or that inhibitory effect on those osteoclasts but what about metabolic rate and body fat composition well the estrogens can increase metabolic rate a little bit but this is only about one-third of the increase that you see in the male sex hormone testosterone and estrogen does increase the amount of fat in the female body and you don't see again you don't see that effect with testosterone restroom but this is a major reason why females in general tend to have a higher body fat percentage than males now the estrogens don't only influence the amount of body fat they also influence where it is distributed throughout the body say like the breasts as well as the buttocks and the thighs now some people may say these are cons of the estrogens however I'm going to respectfully disagree because I think the estrogens do wondrous things to the female body including what they can do to the skin estrogens cause the skin to be smoother softer and even a little bit thinner as opposed to testosterone making it thicker hairier and more rough and what's also really cool about what estrogens do to the skin that some people don't know about is that it can also increase the vascularity or a little bit more of a blood supply to the skin which can make the skin in some cases a little bit warmer but you could also if you add that together with thinner softer skin as well as more vascular that does mean that females could bleed a little bit more from a cut on on the skin say from is compared to their male counterparts and speaking of males are the estrogens found or produced within the male body now before I answer that let me just mention one quick thing some of you might be wondering or thinking hey he didn't cover the estrogens and their relationship to the female sex cycle or female menstrual cycle and the reason for that is we've already done a video series on that so we'll link that at the end of this video and you can check that out if you want but as far as the answer do males produce the estrogens the answer is yes now the word produces might be a little strong because the majority of the estrogens found in the male body are actually converted from testosterone by an enzyme called aromatase but how much are we talking here and where and what would they do now as far as how much we're talking about one-fifth of the amount that would be found in the non-pregnant female I mentioned non-pregnant female because during pregnancy the placenta secretes even more of these estrogens and when we're talking about where there are a few places throughout the male body that will produce or convert testosterone to estrogen and we'll focus on two the first that I'm going to show you is right here and this is the right testis or testicle now you can see on this side we've got the connective tissue and granted we've removed this from the scrotum but if I flip it over you can see we've removed the connective tissue and if I open up to the inside you can actually see if you look closely some tiny little tubes in there and these tubes are called seminiferous tubules and Within These tubules are these cell cells called sertoli cells and these sertoli cells are where you're going to see some of that testosterone converted into the estrogens now another place and the majority of where this conversion takes place is outside of the testes and the Main Place being the liver the liver again converting testosterone into these estrogens I kind of feel like the liver is like the Hermione Granger of the human body and kind of does and knows everything but hey one of these things we can add to the list is converting testosterone to these estrogens and as far as what the estrogens do within the male body the overall effects are going to be quite minimal we don't typically see males developing breast tissue having the same distribution of body fat Etc but as far as the role that the estrogens do have they can get involved in things like spermatogenesis which is the production of sperm cells the estrogens also have a role in modulating sex drive and libido within males as well as erectile function so I often will tell my students hormones are kind of like the Goldilocks principle not too hot not too cold but just right or not too many hormones not too few hormones just the right amount so for example if males had too much estrogen that could lead to things like the development of breast tissue or interfere with spermatogenesis or even cause problems with say like libido sex drive and even erectile dysfunction now that's a nice segue to kind of wrap up the video and remind everybody if you want to know about hormone levels or other tests that you can get throughout your body go ahead and go to let's get checked and that Link's in the description below we really appreciate you guys watching our videos like leave some comments remember to comment on that quiz question earlier in the video if you feel the need subscribe and we'll see you in the next video [Music] foreign [Music]