Biology of reproduction
-
Biology of reproduction · Jan 2001
Female steroid hormones modulate receptors for nerve growth factor in rat dorsal root ganglia.
Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a vasodilatory peptide, and it is primarily synthesized in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Plasma CGRP levels increase during pregnancy and with steroid hormones, and nerve growth factor (NGF) stimulates calcitonin/CGRP promoter and CGRP synthesis in DRG. We previously showed that CGRP levels in DRG were stimulated with steroid hormone treatments in vivo but not in vitro. ⋯ In addition, the combination of these steroid hormones had more effect on both receptors than either hormone alone. Thus, we concluded that high levels of female steroid hormones such as those due to pregnancy or hormonal replacement therapy could increase NGF receptor expression in DRG that carry more NGF to elevate the CGRP synthesis in these groups. We suggested that the regulation of NGF receptors by ovarian steroids may underlie steroidal regulation of other factors such as CGRP.