RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Pregnenolone sulfate: a positive allosteric modulator at the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor.
JF Molecular Pharmacology
JO Mol Pharmacol
FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
SP 333
OP 336
VO 40
IS 3
A1 F S Wu
A1 T T Gibbs
A1 D H Farb
YR 1991
UL http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/40/3/333.abstract
AB The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor is believed to play a major role in learning and in excitotoxic neuronal damage associated with stroke and epilepsy. Pregnenolone sulfate, a neurosteroid, specifically enhances NMDA-gated currents in spinal cord neurons, while inhibiting receptors for the inhibitory amino acids glycine and gamma-aminobutyric acid, as well as non-NMDA glutamate receptors. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that neurosteroids such as pregnenolone sulfate are involved in regulating the balance between excitation and inhibition in the central nervous system.