High impact information on Epipregnanolone

• Chronic epipregnanolone treatment failed to exert any effect on the chick optic lobe total protein content and wet weight at the different doses tested [1].
• We investigated the effects of in ovo chronic administration of the endogenous neurosteroid epipregnanolone (5beta-pregnan-3beta-ol-20-one) on the GABA(A) receptor complex present in chick optic lobe synaptic membranes [1].
• Administration of epipregnanolone to "cerveau isole" preparations depressed neuronal firing in those structures located rostral to the level of the brain stem transection (hypothalamus, hippocampus), but failed to increase the already synchronized cortical activity [2].
• The ability of epipregnanolone and PCA to alter ethanol intake appears to be related to different inhibitory actions of these compounds on either GABA(A) or NMDA receptors, respectively [3].
• In the present study we elicited the effects of progesterone, its 5 beta reduced metabolite epipregnanolone and the anti-progestin compound RU 38486 on potassium uptake in cultured cortical neurons [4].

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