Rats - Finasteride Reduced Cortical Content of Allopregnanolone

[martinM]

Re-posting this from another thread on the forum:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11911871

Depletion of cortical allopregnanolone potentiates stress-induced increase in cortical dopamine output.
Dazzi L, Serra M, Vacca G, Ladu S, Latrofa A, Trapani G, Biggio G.

B. Loddo Department of Experimental Biology, Centre for Neuropharmacology, University of Cagliari, 09042 Cagliari, Italy. dazzi@unica.it
Abstract

In freely moving rats finasteride markedly reduced the cortical content of allopregnanolone. This treatment significantly prolonged the increase in the extracellular concentration of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex induced by foot shock. Moreover, finasteride enhanced both maximal increase of dopamine and its duration elicited by a single injection of the anxiogenic drug FG 7142. These results suggest that endogenous allopregnanolone may modulate the excitatory response of cortical dopaminergic neurons to stressful and anxiogenic stimuli.

Two fold find in this rat study:

1. finasteride reduces alloprenanolone in the brain, and;

2. finasteride increases amount and duration of dopamine response during treatment.