Progesterone inhibits 5ar?

[wildworld1992]

Whenever I took progesterone I felt anxious for several days, then I came across this article today:

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Effects of the anti-androgen finasteride on 5 alpha-reduction of androgens in the presence of progesterone in human gingival fibroblasts: modulatory actions of the alkaline phosphatase inhibitor levamisole

Results
Effects of progesterone (P) and finasteride (F), alone and in combination (PzF), on the metabolic conversion of 14C-testosterone (14C-T)

The major metabolites formed were DHT and 4-androstenedione. There were smaller yields of 5a-/5b-androstanediols and androstanedione.
As shown in Fig. 1, the effect of progesterone on DHT synthesis was compared with controls. There were 24, 32, 58 and 62% decreases in DHT synthesis compared to the control value in relation to concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 mg/ml of proges- terone, respectively (n~8; pS0.01).
Finasteride showed consistent inhibitory effect on DHT synthesis of 59, 74, 78 and 82%, respectively.
P+F at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0 and 3.0 mg/ml showed 68, 75 and 78% decreases in DHT synthesis, respectively, compared to the control DHT value (n~8; pS0.01).

For the full article, check attachment.

 

[Motorneuron]

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[CloudsInTheHead]

5AR converts progesterone to dihydroprogesterone (DHP) just as it converts testosterone to dihydrogen testosterone (DHT). Calling it an "inhibitor" seems wrong to me, but it will of course lower DHT by expending 5AR that otherwise would have acted on testosterone... of course, unlike finasteride, it's transformed into another important hormone.

Most people find progesterone calming, probably in large part because DHP is a precursor to allopregnanolone.