부산대학교 도서관

Sex hormones vary depending on physiological or pathological state of human. Thus, to monitor their history of long-term transition is helpful to evaluate and manage the health. In this study, we developed a protocol for quantitative analysis of three sex hormones, which are testosterone, progesterone, and estradiol, simultaneously from a single fingernail sample. To demonstrate efficaciousness of the protocol, these sex hormones from fingernail samples taken from healthy seven males and seven females were determined and found significant differences among sexes, where testosterone was significantly higher in the male fingernail samples than those of females, contrastingly progesterone and estradiol were significantly higher in the female fingernail samples than those of males. These biologically plausible results were corroborated by the sex hormones independently determined by using their saliva. The determination of sex hormones by nail may contribute to the continuous evaluation of our physiological state in everyday life.