Fietta Pierluigi, Fietta Pieranna
Dipartimento di Psichiatria, Azienda Ospedaliera di Lodi, Lodi, Italy.
Riv Biol. 2007 Sep-Dec;100(3):403-18.
Natural glucocorticoids are essential components of the body neuroendocrine system, modulating the physiological homeostasis and coordinating the adaptive responses to stressors. The complex activity of glucocorticoids involves almost all organs and tissues, including brain. Their effects on central nervous system vary with species, gender, age, hormone concentrations, timing, and duration of exposure. In humans, the glucocorticoid effects on brain functions entail influences on arousal, sleep, behaviour, cognition, memory, mood and affect. Two types of cytoplasmic receptors, namely mineralcorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors, having different brain distribution and functional pattern, mediate the hormonal activity through the stimulation or suppression of target gene transcription, depending on cell type. Synthetic glucocorticoids substantially share the same mechanisms of action, however, with different kinetics and/or receptor affinities In this paper, the main effects of glucocorticoids on brain functions are reviewed and discussed.
天然糖皮质激素是机体神经内分泌系统的重要组成部分，调节生理稳态并协调对应激源的适应性反应。糖皮质激素的复杂活性几乎涉及所有器官和组织，包括大脑。它们对中枢神经系统的影响因物种、性别、年龄、激素浓度、暴露时间和持续时间而异。在人类中，糖皮质激素对脑功能的影响涉及对觉醒、睡眠、行为、认知、记忆、情绪和情感的影响。两种细胞质受体，即盐皮质激素受体和糖皮质激素受体，具有不同的脑部分布和功能模式，根据细胞类型通过刺激或抑制靶基因转录来介导激素活性。合成糖皮质激素基本上具有相同的作用机制，然而，具有不同的动力学和/或受体亲和力。本文对糖皮质激素对脑功能的主要影响进行了综述和讨论。
