Neurosteroid Hydroxylase CYP7B

Neurosteroid hydroxylase CYP7B: vivid reporter activity in dentate gyrus of gene-targeted mice and abolition of a widespread pathway of steroid and oxysterol hydroxylation.

The major adrenal steroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) enhances memory and immune function but has no known dedicated receptor; local metabolism may govern its activity. We described a cytochrome P450 expressed in brain and other tissues, CYP7B, that catalyzes the 7alpha-hydroxylation of oxysterols and 3beta-hydroxysteroids including DHEA. We report here that CYP7B mRNA and 7alpha-hydroxylatio...

11β-Hydroxylase inhibitors protect against seizures in mice by increasing endogenous neurosteroid synthesis.

Steroid 11β-hydroxylase (CYP11B1; EC 1.14.15.4) is a mitochondrial enzyme located in the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex and also in the brain that mediates the conversion of 11-deoxycortisol to cortisol and 11-deoxycorticosterone (DOC) to corticosterone. Inhibitors of CYP11B1, such as metyrapone and etomidate, reduce glucocorticoid synthesis and raise levels of DOC providing greater ava...

Neurosteroid inhibition of cell death.

Diverse γ-aminobutyric acid (GABAA) receptor modulators exhibited novel cytoprotective effects and mechanisms of action in rabbit renal proximal tubules subjected to mitochondrial inhibition (antimycin A) or hypoxia. Cytoprotective potencies (50% effective concentration, EC50) were 0.3 nM allopregnanolone (AP) > 0.4 nM 17α-OH-allopregnanolone (17α-OH-AP) > 30 nM dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (...

Vitamin D: the neglected neurosteroid?

Recent articles in this journal 1,2 have focused attention on the growing body of evidence showing that steroid hormones can alter brain function in novel ways. The autocrine and paracrine roles played by steroids synthesized in the brain (also known as neurosteroids) are yet to be fully elucidated. The physiological properties of known neurosteroids are diverse, and differ temporally (neurodev...

Phenylalanine Hydroxylase, Tyrosine Hydroxylase, and Tryptophan Hydroxylase