Neurosteroids As Novel Antidepressants and Anxiolytics: GABA-A Receptors and Beyond

Overview

Journal Neurobiol Stress

Date 2019 Oct 26

PMID 31649968

Citations 60

Authors

Charles F Zorumski

Steven M Paul

Douglas F Covey

Steven Mennerick

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The recent FDA approval of the neurosteroid, brexanolone (allopregnanolone), as a treatment for women with postpartum depression, and successful trials of a related neuroactive steroid, SGE-217, for men and women with major depressive disorder offer the hope of a new era in treating mood and anxiety disorders based on the potential of neurosteroids as modulators of brain function. This review considers potential mechanisms contributing to antidepressant and anxiolytic effects of allopregnanolone and other GABAergic neurosteroids focusing on their actions as positive allosteric modulators of GABA receptors. We also consider their roles as endogenous "stress" modulators and possible additional mechanisms contributing to their therapeutic effects. We argue that further understanding of the molecular, cellular, network and psychiatric effects of neurosteroids offers the hope of further advances in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders.

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