Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Neurosteroids, also known as neuroactive steroids, are endogenous or exogenous steroids that rapidly alter neuronal excitability through interaction with ligand-gated ion channels and other cell surface receptors. [1] [2] The term neurosteroid was coined by the French physiologist Étienne-Émile Baulieu and refers to steroids synthesized in ...
This is a list of neurosteroids, or natural and synthetic steroids that are active on the mammalian nervous system through receptors other than steroid hormone receptors. It includes inhibitory , excitatory , and neurotrophic neurosteroids as well as pheromones and vomeropherines .
A neurosteroidogenesis inhibitor is a drug that inhibits the production of endogenous neurosteroids.Neurosteroids include the excitatory neurosteroids pregnenolone sulfate, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and the inhibitory neurosteroids allopregnanolone, tetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone (THDOC), and 3α-androstanediol, among others. [1]
Allopregnanolone is a metabolic intermediate in an androgen backdoor pathway from progesterone to dihydrotestosterone, which occurs during normal male fetus development; placental progesterone in the male fetus is the feedstock of this pathway; deficiencies in this pathway lead to insufficient virilization of the male fetus.
Pregnenolone and its 3β-sulfate, pregnenolone sulfate, like dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), DHEA sulfate, and progesterone, belong to the group of neurosteroids that are found in high concentrations in certain areas of the brain, and are synthesized there. Neurosteroids affect synaptic functioning, are neuroprotective, and enhance myelinization.
One form of behavioral neuropharmacology focuses on the study of drug dependence and how drug addiction affects the human mind. Most research has shown that the major part of the brain that reinforces addiction through neurochemical reward is the nucleus accumbens. The image to the right shows how dopamine is projected into this area.
Changes to 6, 8, 9 or 4´ decrease activity. If the group in position 1 is changed to N-alkyl, haloalkyl, alkynyl and small cycle or aminoalkyl the activity is increased. Position 3 hydroxylation can cause rapid conjugation and decrease duration and potency, which can be clinically useful. [34] Fig 10. Different R-group analogs for neurosteroids.
An implicit premise in neuropsychopharmacology with regard to the psychological aspects is that all states of mind, including both normal and drug-induced altered states, and diseases involving mental or cognitive dysfunction, have a neurochemical basis at the fundamental level, and certain circuit pathways in the central nervous system at a higher level.