Steroid Hormones Use Non-Genomic Mechanisms to Control Brain Functions and Behaviors: A Review of Evidence

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Abstract
Progestins, estrogens, androgens, and corticosteroids are capable of modifying brain functions and behaviors by mechanisms that involve the classic genomic model for steroid action. However, experimental evidence indicates that some responses to steroid hormones use non-classical, non-genomic mechanisms. This paper reviews the evidence that steroids can bind to receptors in the plasma membrane, activate cell signaling pathways, and regulate responses on a time scale of seconds or a few minutes. The existence of these alternative regulatory pathways for steroid hormones should make endocrinologists and neurobiologists change how they think about steroid hormones. It is no longer valid to assume that minute-to-minute changes in steroid concentrations are not regulating biologically important, short-term responses, or that the only steroids with biological functions are the ones that bind with high affinity to intracellular steroid receptors.