Steroid 5α-reductase in adult rat brain after neonatal testosterone administration

✍ Scribed by Pilar Sánchez; Jesús M. Torres; Raimundo G. del Moral; Juan de Dios Luna; Esperanza Ortega

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 334 KB
• Volume: 64
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1521-6543
• DOI: 10.1002/iub.569

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Testosterone (T) plays an important role in developing brain, dictating sex‐specific behavior and physiology. 3α,5α‐Reduced neurosteroids also regulate reproductive behavior. The key enzyme in the biosynthesis of these neurosteroids is 5α‐reductase (5α‐R), expressed as two isozymes, 5α‐R1 and 5α‐R2. In this study, T and sesame oil (vehicle) were administered during postnatal sexual differentiation of the central nervous system (CNS) and mRNA levels of 5α‐R isozymes, were measured using quantitative RT‐PCR in prefrontal cortex of male and female rats with different androgenic status at adulthood. Our results indicate that T concentrations during postnatal sexual differentiation of the rat CNS, among other sex‐dependent factors, influence brain levels of 5α‐R isozymes in adulthood and the pattern of their regulation by androgen hormones. © 2011 IUBMB Life, 2011