Abnormal glucocorticoid metabolism contributes to vascular dysfunction and cardiovascular disease. Cortisol activation of vascular mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors is regulated by two types of 11beta-HSD (11-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase), namely 11beta-HSD2 and 11beta-HSD1 (type 2 and type 1 11beta-HSD respectively). We hypothesized that inhibition of 11beta-HSD would attenua...

Whereas hypertonic saline-dextran (HSD, 7.5% NaCl in 6% D70) improves cardiac contractile function after burn trauma, the mechanisms of HSD-related cardioprotection remain unclear. We recently showed that cardiomyocytes secrete tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), a response that was enhanced by burn trauma. This study addressed the question: does HSD modulate cardiac contraction/relaxation...

High salt diet (HSD) is one of the most important risk factors that contribute to many vascular diseases including ischemic stroke. One proposed mechanism underlying the disruption of blood-brain barrier (BBB) mediated by HSD is indirectly through enhancing blood pressure. The direct role of HSD on BBB integrity is unclear. Our purpose is to determine whether and how HSD might be involved in BB...

20 alpha-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (20 alpha-HSD, EC 1.1.1.149) catalyses the conversion of progesterone into 20 alpha-dihydroprogesterone (20 alpha-OHP). Previously, we purified the enzyme (37 kDa) from rat ovary and determined its N-terminal amino acid sequence. In the present study we succeeded in cloning a full-length 20 alpha-HSD cDNA. mRNA was extracted from immature rat ovaries after ...

Placental 11b-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11b-HSD) regulates transplacental passage of maternal glucocorticoids to the fetus and is thus a key determinant of fetal glucocorticoid levels. It has also been proposed that placental 11b-HSD expression may influence local glucocorticoid actions by regulating access of corticosterone to the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) or mineralocorticoid receptor ...

Polymorphism: Sequencing of amplified exon 4(1) identified a single base pair substitution at position 1100 in the coding sequence of 3/3-HSD. The replacement of A (allele 1) by C (allele 2) results in codon 367 changing from Asn to Thr. This is the first non-synonymous polymorphism to be described in 3/3-HSD and its physiological effect has yet to be assessed. Mild late onset deficiencies of 3...

Aldosterone stimulates the sympathetic nervous system by binding to a select population of brain mineralocorticoid receptors (MR). These MR have an equal affinity for corticosterone that is present in substantially higher concentrations, but are held in reserve for aldosterone by activity of the enzyme 11 -hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11 -HSD-2), which converts corticosterone to an inac...

The enzyme 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/delta 5-delta 4 isomerase (3 beta-HSD) catalyzes biosynthesis of progesterone (P) and all precursors of glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, androgens, and estrogens. Despite the broad interest raised by neurosteroids, the cellular localization of 3 beta-HSD has never been investigated in the brain. We took advantage of the availability of an antis...

In humans, the personality dimension 'sensory processing sensitivity (SPS)', also referred to as "high sensitivity", involves deeper processing of sensory information, which can be associated with physiological and behavioral overarousal. However, it has not been studied up to now whether this dimension also exists in other species. SPS can influence how people perceive the environment and how ...

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of genistein and equol on 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) and 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 3 (17β-HSD3) in human and rat testis microsomes. These enzymes (3β-HSD and 17β-HSD3), along with two others (cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage enzyme and cytochrome P450 17α-hydroxylase/17-20 lyase), catalyze the reactions th...