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 (neurodevelopment versus adult brain) and regionally within the brain 3. We wish to draw attention to vitamin D as a neuroactive steroid whose probable synthesis in the CNS qualifies it as a neurosteroid. A precursor of vitamin D is generated from a cholesterol derivative by the action of ultraviolet light on the skin 4. Its active form, calcitriol, is formed by two hydroxylation reactions. The expression of mRNA coding for the 1∝-OH hydroxylase (the P450 enzyme required in the final step to produce the active form 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3) has been Editor's choice bmn.com/neuroscience As a busy neuroscientist, searching through the wealth of information on BioMedNet can be a bit daunting – the new gateway to neurobiology on BioMedNet is designed to help. The new neuroscience gateway is updated weekly and features relevant articles selected by the editorial teams from Trends in Neurosciences, Current Opinion in Neurobiology and Trends in Cognitive Sciences. The regular updates include: • News – our dedicated team of reporters from BioMedNet News provides a busy researcher with all the news to keep up to date on what's happening – right now. • Journal Scan – learn about new reports and events in neuroscience every day, at a glance, without leafing through stacks of journals. • Conference Reporter – daily updates on the most exciting developments revealed at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Neuroscience – providing a quick but comprehensive report of what you missed by staying home. • Mini Reviews and Reviews – a selection of the best review and opinion articles from all Trends and Current Opinion journals in the field. Why not bookmark the gateway at bmn.com/neuroscience for access to all the news, reviews and informed opinion on the latest scientific advances in neuroscience. the accumulation of aberrant, neurotoxic forms of host proteins in the brain for which there is no known cure. In the landmark study reported in Proc. Natl. a mouse cell line was chronically infected with a strain of mouse scrapie causing the massive accumulation of neurotoxic scrapie prion …