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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Steroids. 2012 Nov 2;78(1):15–25. doi: 10.1016/j.steroids.2012.10.002

Figure 8. Model of how DHEA metabolites activate ERα and ERβ.

Figure 8

DHEA is converted to ADIOL, ADIONE, and mono-hydroxylated metabolites capable of activating the estrogen receptors. ADIOL and ADIONE are high affinity ligand activators of ER similar to the 3β-diol derived from DHT as demonstrated by Muthusamy et al [46]. Other DHEA metabolites, 7-hydroxy- and 7-keto-DHEA are low affinity ligand activators of ER, relative to ADIOL or ADIONE. Further information on the synthesis and metabolism of DHEA is reviewed in [39, 90–92].