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A sex steroid is a steroid hormone which interacts with vertebrate androgen or estrogen receptors. Natural sex steroids are made by the gonads (ovaries or testes), by adrenal glands, or by conversion from other sex steroids in other tissues such as liver or fat. The term sex hormone nearly always is synonymous with sex steroid.
Sex steroids play important roles inducing the body changes known as primary sex characteristics and secondary sex characteristics.
In many contexts, the two main classes of sex steroids are androgens and estrogens, of which the most important human examples are testosterone and estradiol respectively. Other contexts will include progestins as a third class of sex steroids, distinct from androgens and estrogens. Progesterone is the most important human progestin.
There are also many synthetic sex steroids. Synthetic androgens are often referred to as anabolic steroids. Synthetic estrogens and progestins are used in oral contraceptive pills. Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a synthetic estrogen.
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