Hormonal deficiency in elderly males.

During the aging process, a number of morphological and neurochemical alterations have been found in the supra-chiasmatic nuclei, which are in part responsible for the age-dependent decrease in plasma testosterone (andropause or PADAM), DHEA (adrenopause), GH/IGF-I (somatopause) and melatonin that develops in most men at about the age of 50 (Perry, 1999; Vermeulen et al., 1999). An important principle in antiaging practice is the employment of the best of available means to prevent the preventable and delay the inevitable. Therefore, some scientists advocate multihormonal replacement therapy and the use of antioxidant drugs that may favourably influence some of the pathological conditions in aging men.