Abstract
The functions of the brain depend largely upon the complex interactions of nervous and hormonal factors. Indeed, it is gradually emerging that the only way to account for brain mechanisms which have a physiological relevance is to assume that they depend on the simultaneous action of multiple influences. Steroid hormones have long been considered as a separate entity even though it has been demonstrated that they act at the brain level. They have been thought to act, both at the brain and at the uterus, through the genetic synthesizing system. In this rather rigid scheme, the primary action of a sex steroid, oestrogen for example, is the formation of a cytoplasmic receptor complex which is translocated into the nucleus as the first step leading to the genetic machinery for the synthesis of a protein. The purpose of the present paper is to put forward evidence from several investigators of the action of sex steroids on membrane excitability of brain and pituitary cells. In addition we examine the possibility of interaction between sex steroids and neurotransmitters. These observations open a new field in the understanding of brain mechanisms concerning a regulatory role for steroid hormones in conventional neurotransmission.
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Dufy, B., Vincent, J.D. (1980). Effects of sex steroids on cell membrane excitability: a new concept for the action of steroids on the brain. In: Hormones and the Brain. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8709-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8709-8_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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