What is 5-Alpha Reductase Enzyme?
Generally, the 5-alpha reductase enzyme is commonly classified as the enzyme that converts the male hormone testosterone into a much potent hormone dihydrotestosterone or DHT. DHT is thought to be the major culprit that causes hair loss in numerous men and women all over the world. Medical experts have confirmed that 5-alpha reductase enzyme was primarily discovered in the prostate of men wherein the enzyme modifies the conversion of the hormone testosterone into a damaging hormone called dihydrotestosterone. This entire process is considerably blameful to the condition that is enlargement of the prostate and the conversion can seemingly bind to the androgen receptor and hence initiates the gradual development of the external genitalia and prostate.
Medical scrutiny and examinations have proven that the 5-alpha reductase enzyme can also occur in the scalp of humans, particularly in the hair follicles and somewhere in the skin area wherein it usually scatter or distribute similar reaction as what it does in the prostate. It has been fully evaluated that the turmoil of the 5-alpha reductase enzyme activity in the skin cells can potentially contribute to male and female pattern baldness and can significantly provide a sufficient evidence for such hair loss condition.
The type I and type II 5-alpha reductase enzymes are both active in different regions of the body and are also responsible in producing dihydrotestosterone that can inevitably disperse throughout the body thus erupting effects to other organs. The two different types of 5-alpha reductase enzymes are individually coded by a separate gene which is generated by dissimilar and numerous tissues and the genes for 5-alpha reductase have been extremely outlined to chromosome 5. However, both seem essentially critical in developing Androgenetic alopecia.
Studies show that the first type of 5-alpha reductase is considered to be more prominent as it is predominantly vigorous in the human scalp and hair follicles in a very high aspect. The type I 5-alpha reductase enzyme adequately produces 60 to 70 percent of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in the human body while the type II 5-alpha reductase enzyme on the other hand only produces the extra 30 to 40 percent of DHT in the body.
