Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Neurosteroids are produced in the brain after local synthesis or by conversion of peripherally-derived adrenal steroids or gonadal steroids. They accumulate especially in myelinating glial cells, from cholesterol or steroidal precursors imported from peripheral sources.
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 .
The nervous and endocrine systems often act together in a process called neuroendocrine integration, to regulate the physiological processes of the human body. Neuroendocrinology arose from the recognition that the brain, especially the hypothalamus , controls secretion of pituitary gland hormones, and has subsequently expanded to investigate ...
Brain cells make up the functional tissue of the brain. The rest of the brain tissue is the structural stroma that includes connective tissue such as the meninges , blood vessels , and ducts. The two main types of cells in the brain are neurons , also known as nerve cells, and glial cells , also known as neuroglia. [ 1 ]
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.
The suprachiasmatic nucleus or nuclei (SCN) is a small region of the brain in the hypothalamus, situated directly above the optic chiasm. It is responsible for regulating sleep cycles in animals. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Reception of light inputs from photosensitive retinal ganglion cells allow it to coordinate the subordinate cellular clocks of the body ...
Neurons expressing certain types of neurotransmitters sometimes form distinct systems, where activation of the system affects large volumes of the brain, called volume transmission. Major neurotransmitter systems include the noradrenaline (norepinephrine) system, the dopamine system, the serotonin system, and the cholinergic system, among others.
Betz cells are the largest cells (by size of cell body) in the nervous system. [40] The adult human brain is estimated to contain 86±8 billion neurons, with a roughly equal number (85±10 billion) of non-neuronal cells. [41] Out of these neurons, 16 billion (19%) are located in the cerebral cortex, and 69 billion (80%) are in the cerebellum ...