University Network

Gene activity can be influenced to a considerable extent via intermittent signaling by steroid hormones, according to a research by scientists at the University of Bristol and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), USA. These findings were published online and appeared in the September 2009 issue of Nature Cell Biology.

It is considered that the findings would have significant implications for ascertaining how steroids work along with opening novel avenues to new therapies.

From News-Medical.Net:

In this new study, the researchers demonstrate that ultradian hormone stimulation induces the pulsed expression of genes (known as gene pulsing) over the same period, both in cultured cells and in animal models. Initially, the researchers administered corticosterone, a naturally occurring glucocorticoid hormone in rodents, in a pulsed manner to cultured mouse cells and then observed that the levels of newly synthesized RNA from glucocorticoid receptor-regulated genes tracked precisely with the hormone pulses.

The reported research results argue that gene pulsing regulated by glucocorticoid receptors is directly linked to varying levels of gene activity. Professor Stafford Lightman, head of the Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology, at the University of Bristol, said: “We have previously shown that the hormone cortisol is released in pulses in man as well as rodents. The present results now show that this pattern of hormone release is critical for good health and provides a novel concept for new drug design.”

Some members of the medical fraternity said that studies like this one can help in defining the potential role of ultradian application of glucocorticoid receptor therapy to a significant extent.

Category: Anabolic Steroids | Tags: glucocorticoid, Steroid, steroid hormones, steroids