Etienne-Emile Baulieu, the discoverer of neurosteroids, and a panel of distinguished scientists and clinical researchers exhaustively and critically review all facets of neurosteroids involved in behavior, stress, memory, depression, anxiety, aging of the brain, and neurodegenerative diseases. These contributors illuminate the role of neurosteroids in brain development and plasticity and detail their neuromodulatory influence on GABAA, ionotropic glutamate receptors, acetylcholine receptors, sigma receptors, and calcium channels. Clearly pointing the way toward novel pharmaceutical agents that may be of significant therapeutic value, particularly with regard to aging mental functions, Neurosteroids: A New Regulatory Function in the Nervous System offers neurobiologists, psychiatrists, neurosurgeons, pharmacologists, and geriatricians the first comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of these important bioactive molecules.

Inhalt
1 Neurosteroids: From Definition and Biochemistry to Physiopathologic Function.- 2 Molecular Biology and Developmental Regulation of the Enzymes Involved in the Biosynthesis and Metabolism of Neurosteroids.- 3 Cytochrome P450 in the Central Nervous System.- 4 Steroidogenic Factor 1 Plays Key Roles in Adrenal and Gonadal Development and in Endocrine Function.- 5 Peripheral-Type Benzodiazepine Receptor: Role in the Regulation of Steroid and Neurosteroid Biosynthesis.- 6 Aspects of Hormonal Steroid Metabolism in the Nervous System.- 7 The Selective Interaction of Neurosteroids with the GABAA Receptor.- 8 Potentiation of GABAergic Neurotransmission by Steroids.- 9 Neurosteroid Antagonists of the GABAA Receptors.- 10 Modulation of Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors by Neuroactive Steroids.- 11 Steroidal Modulation of Sigma Receptor Function.- 12 Steroid Modulation of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor.- 13 Neuroactive Steroid Modulation of Neuronal Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels.- 14 Gonadal Hormone Regulation of Synaptic Plasticity in the Brain: What Is the Mechanism?.- 15 Steroid Effects on Brain Plasticity: Role of Glial Cells and Trophic Factors.- 16 Steroid Receptors in Brain Cell Membranes.- 17 Novel Mechanisms of Estrogen Action in the Developing Brain: Role of Steroid/Neurotrophin Interactions.- 18 Neurosteroids: Behavioral Studies.- 19 Remarkable Memory-Enhancing Effects of Pregnenolone Sulfate with Pheromone-Like Sensitivity: An Amplificatory Hypothesis.- 20 The Neuropsychopharmacological Potential of Neurosteroids.