Laboratory of Neuronal and Neuroendocrine Differentiation and Communication, INSERM U982, European Institute for Peptide Research, IFRMP23, Regional Platform for Cell Imaging, PRIMACEN, University of Rouen Mont-Saint-Aignan, France.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2011 Nov 30;2:79. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2011.00079. eCollection 2011.
Amphibians have been widely used to investigate the synthesis of biologically active steroids in the brain and the regulation of neurosteroid production by neurotransmitters and neuropeptides. The aim of the present review is to summarize the current knowledge regarding the neuroanatomical distribution and biochemical activity of steroidogenic enzymes in the brain of anurans and urodeles. The data accumulated over the past two decades demonstrate that discrete populations of neurons and/or glial cells in the frog and newt brains express the major steroidogenic enzymes and are able to synthesize de novo a number of neurosteroids from cholesterol/pregnenolone. Since neurosteroidogenesis has been conserved during evolution from amphibians to mammals, it appears that neurosteroids must play important physiological functions in the central nervous system of vertebrates.
两栖动物被广泛用于研究大脑中生物活性甾体的合成以及神经递质和神经肽对神经甾体生成的调节。本综述的目的是总结关于两栖动物和有尾目动物脑内甾体生成酶的神经解剖分布和生化活性的现有知识。过去二十年积累的数据表明，青蛙和蝾螈脑中的离散神经元和/或神经胶质细胞群体表达主要的甾体生成酶，并能够从头合成胆固醇/孕烯醇酮的多种神经甾体。由于神经甾体生成在从两栖动物到哺乳动物的进化过程中得到了保守，因此神经甾体在脊椎动物的中枢神经系统中必定发挥着重要的生理功能。
