Approach for physiological fuction of neurosteroid, 7a-hydroxypregnenolone

• Project/Area Number: 24657082
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Functional biochemistry
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: SHIMIZU Kimiko 東京大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (50451828)
• Research Collaborator: MAEHATA Kanako
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
• Keywords: ニューロステロイド / 哺乳類 / 神経科学 / 行動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We focused our attention to a new neurosteroid, 7alpha-hydroxy pregnenolone (7alpha-OH-Preg). Our purpose is to identify and examine 7alpha-OH-Preg and its synthetic enzymes in the mammalian brain. We investigated endogenous steroids in the mouse and rat brain by HPLC and MS analysis. We established an HPLC-MS analysis method for the detection of 7alpha-OH-Preg and its related neurosteroids. We examined mRNA levels of genes encoding the enzymes that are necessary for synthesis of 7alpha -OH-Preg and detected the circadian expression in some part of the mouse brain. We also performed various behavioral tests that evaluate emotion and memory formation of mice which lack synthetic enzyme of 7alpha-OH-Preg at several time points during the day for understanding of its actions.

Research Products

• [Presentation] Molecular analysis of neurosteroids in mouse brain (2014)
  • Author(s): 前畑 佳納子、清水 貴美子、高尾 敏文、深田 吉孝
  • Organizer: 第37回日本分子生物学会年会
  • Place of Presentation: パシフィコ横浜 横浜市 神奈川県
  • Year and Date: 2014-11-25 – 2014-11-27