Back to Search
Start Over
Actions of Steroids: New Neurotransmitters
- Source :
- The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, vol 36, iss 45
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- eScholarship, University of California, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Over the past two decades, the classical understanding of steroid action has been updated to include rapid, membrane-initiated, neurotransmitter-like functions. While steroids were known to function on very short time spans to induce physiological and behavioral changes, the mechanisms by which these changes occur are now becoming more clear. In avian systems, rapid estradiol effects can be mediated via local alterations in aromatase activity, which precisely regulates the temporal and spatial availability of estrogens. Acute regulation of brain-derived estrogens has been shown to rapidly affect sensorimotor function and sexual motivation in birds. In rodents, estrogens and progesterone are critical for reproduction, including preovulatory events and female sexual receptivity. Membrane progesterone receptor as well as classical progesterone receptor trafficked to the membrane mediate reproductive-related hypothalamic physiology, via second messenger systems with dopamine-induced cell signals. In addition to these relatively rapid actions, estrogen membrane-initiated signaling elicits changes in morphology. In the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, these changes are needed for lordosis behavior. Recent evidence also demonstrates that membrane glucocorticoid receptor is present in numerous cell types and species, including mammals. Further, membrane glucocorticoid receptor influences glucocorticoid receptor translocation to the nucleus effecting transcriptional activity. The studies presented here underscore the evidence that steroids behave like neurotransmitters to regulate CNS functions. In the future, we hope to fully characterize steroid receptor-specific functions in the brain.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
medicine.medical_specialty
medicine.drug_class
1.1 Normal biological development and functioning
Models, Neurological
Second Messenger Systems
Synaptic Transmission
Basic Behavioral and Social Science
Medical and Health Sciences
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Glucocorticoid receptor
Models
Underpinning research
Internal medicine
Progesterone receptor
Behavioral and Social Science
medicine
Animals
Humans
Aromatase
Neurotransmitter Agents
Evidence-Based Medicine
Neurology & Neurosurgery
biology
General Neuroscience
Symposium and Mini-Symposium
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
Neurosciences
Brain
Lordosis behavior
Estrogen
Membrane progesterone receptor
030104 developmental biology
Endocrinology
Hypothalamus
Second messenger system
Neurological
biology.protein
Steroids
Neuroscience
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, vol 36, iss 45
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....22016127471c5578a6b5bdc19cb3834c