ABSTRACT
The term “neurosteroid” (Corpechot et al., 1981) was introduced after it was observed that, even weeks after the surgical removal of peripheral steroidogenic tissues, relevant concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA-sulfate (DHEAS), as well as of pregnenolone and pregnenolone sulfate were present in the brain of adult rat, a species in which, at variance with humans, the adrenal DHEA production appears confined to early developmental stages. Moreover, in rodents and non-human primates adrenalectomy or dexamethasone treatment reduce the concentrations of DHEA and other neurosteroids by a lower extent in brain than in plasma (Corpechot et al., 1981; Robel and Baulieu, 1995; Roscetti et al., 1998). It was therefore suggested that neurosteroids may be synthesized in brain and that this process was not under the control of the pituitary factors that control peripheral steroidogenesis.
