Diamond David M
Departments of Psychology and Pharmacology, University of South Florida, and Medical Research Service, VA Medical Center, Tampa, FL.
Nonlinearity Biol Toxicol Med. 2004 Oct;2(4):371-7. doi: 10.1080/15401420490900290.
Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) is a steroid hornone that is synthesized, de novo, in the brain. Endogenous DHEAS levels correlate with the quality of mental and physical health, where the highest levels of DHEAS occur in healthy young adults and reduced levels of DHEAS are found with advanced age, disease, or extreme stress. DHEAS supplementation, therefore, may serve as a therapeutic agent against a broad range of maladies. This paper summarizes laboratory findings on dose-response relationships between DHEAS and cognitive and electrophysiological measures of hippocampal functioning. It was found that a low, but not a high, dose of DHEAS enhanced hippocampal primed burst potentiation (a physiological model of memory) as well as spatial (hippocampal-dependent) memory in rats. This complex dose-response function of DHEAS effects on the brain and memory may contribute toward the inconsistent findings that have been obtained by other investigators in studies on DHEAS administration in people.
硫酸脱氢表雄酮(DHEAS)是一种在大脑中从头合成的甾体激素。内源性DHEAS水平与身心健康质量相关,其中DHEAS水平在健康年轻成年人中最高,而在老年、疾病或极端压力下会发现DHEAS水平降低。因此,补充DHEAS可能作为一种针对多种疾病的治疗剂。本文总结了关于DHEAS与海马功能的认知和电生理测量之间剂量反应关系的实验室研究结果。研究发现,低剂量而非高剂量的DHEAS可增强大鼠海马的强直刺激后增强效应(一种记忆的生理模型)以及空间(依赖海马的)记忆。DHEAS对大脑和记忆的这种复杂剂量反应功能可能导致其他研究人员在关于人类DHEAS给药的研究中获得的不一致结果。