A steroid hormone released during the metabolism of progesterone (the female sex hormone), Progesterone metabolite allopregnanolone, has the potential to minimize response of the brain to stress.

The finding was disclosed by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and Atlanta’s Center for Behavioral Neuroscience.

From News-medical.net:

In the study, Emory researchers Donna Toufexis, PhD, Michael Davis, PhD and Carrie Davis, BS, and Alexis Hammond, BS, of Spelman College, compared how female rats with different levels of the sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone, reacted to loud noises after injections of CRF into the brain’s lateral ventricles. CRF injections usually increase the “acoustic startle response” in this test used to gauge stress and anxiety, a phenomenon called CRF-enhanced startle.

In the first experiment, the scientists compared acoustic startle responses after CRF injection in an estrogen-only group, an estrogen-plus-progesterone group and a control group that did not receive any sex hormones. All the rats lacked ovaries and the ability to produce sex hormones naturally. Acoustic startle response was unaffected in the estrogen-only group and the control group. In the estrogen-plus-progesterone group, however, CRF-enhanced startle was significantly lower than in the other groups.

The scientists found evidence suggesting that brain’s response to corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), a peptide hormone that plays an important role in the stress response in animals, gets minimized by progesterone metabolite allopregnanolone.

Tags:  estrogen, progesterone, steroid

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In a finding seen by many as an overturn from conventional wisdom, a plant has been found to produce progesterone, the female sex hormone.

This discovery was reported in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Natural Products, a monthly publication.

From News-Medical.Net:

“The significance of the unequivocal identification of progesterone cannot be overstated,” the article by Guido F. Pauli and colleagues, states. “While the biological role of progesterone has been extensively studied in mammals, the reason for its presence in plants is less apparent.” They speculate that the hormone, like other steroid hormones, might be an ancient bioregulator that evolved billions of years ago, before the appearance of modern plants and animals. The new discovery may change scientific understanding of the evolution and function of progesterone in living things.

Scientists previously identified progesterone-like substances in plants and speculated that the hormone itself could exist in plants. But researchers had not found the actual hormone in plants until now. Pauli and colleagues used two powerful laboratory techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy, to detect progesterone in leaves of the Common Walnut, or English Walnut, tree. They also identified five new progesterone-related steroids in a plant belonging to the buttercup family.

Two powerful laboratory techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectroscopy were used by the researchers to detect progesterone in leaves of the Common Walnut, or English walnut, tree.

Tags:  progesterone, steroid, steroid hormones, Steroids

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Administration of progesterone for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients after the injury on an immediate basis can minimize the degree of disability and risk of death besides being a safe option, as per a new study.

Researchers from the Emory University were of the view that progesterone treatment for traumatic brain injury has been extensively studied with laboratory animals for as much as 15 years. It was also suggested that progesterone treatment is capable of minimizing brain swelling besides preventing nerve death, and enhancing functional outcomes.

From News-Medical.Net:

In a phase II three-year pilot study, called ProTECT (”Progesterone for Traumatic brain injury–Experimental Clinical Treatment”), the Emory researchers enrolled 100 participants who reached the emergency department within 11 hours of injury, in order to evaluate whether progesterone can be administered intravenously in a reliable way, and whether the treatment is safe to use in humans with TBI.

People enrolled in the study had a “blunt” traumatic brain injury, which typically occurs from a car accident, motorcycle crash or a fall, and lead researcher Dr. David W. Wright and colleagues randomly assigned the patients to receive an intravenous dose of progesterone or an inactive “placebo.”

The death rate in the 30 days after injury was 13 percent in the progesterone group compared with 30 percent in the comparison group indicating that progesterone cut the risk of death by 57 percent.

No serious side effects were seen with the hormone or with the placebo.

Progesterone is a promising treatment because it is inexpensive, widely available and has a long track record of safe use in humans in treating other diseases.

Wright’s team was able to contact 92 percent of patients who survived 30 days and saw evidence that progesterone improved the recovery of patients with moderate brain injury, however those patients with severe injury seemed to glean no benefit from the hormone.

The study also brought the fact that progesterone is found to be critical for development of neurons in the brain in a normal manner along with exerting protective effects on the damaged brain tissue.

Tags:  damaged brain tissue, progesterone, progesterone treatment, TBI, traumatic brain injury, treatment for traumatic brain injury

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