Interactions Between Environmental and Hormonal Oscillations Induce Plastic Changes in a Simple Neuroendocrine Transducer

摘要

Steroid hormones may affect, simultaneously, a wide variety of neuronal targets and influence the way neural networks interact and the way the brain reacts to the environment. Some of the neuronal effects of steroid hormones may be very fast and affect specific membrane conductances or second messenger cascades. While others may last a long time and exert profound influences on gene expression. The crosstalk between these forms of action may be crucial for the regulation of the way the brain develops and differentiates, changes with age, or remodels its synaptic circuitry during life. Here, we present some evidence of specific molecular changes brought about by gonadal steroids on a simple neuroendocine transducer, the pineal gland.