Posted by SLS on June 2, 2001, at 12:29:41
In reply to cocaine and female sex hormones - weird (article), posted by Elizabeth on June 1, 2001, at 13:47:52
Hi -e
I recollect reading that some hormones regulate the sensitivity of NE receptors; thyroid being one that increases it. I had thought estrogen was as well. Estrogen is a little weird in that it can have opposing sex-specific effects. In females, I am under the impression that estrogen can have antidepresseant and even maniagenic effects while progesterone is somewhat depressogenic. I tried to find some evidence that estrogen increased NE receptor sensitivity and ran across this:
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1: J Endocrinol 2000 Aug;166(2):R5-9 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Increased magnitude of relaxation to oestrogen in aorta from oestrogen receptor beta knock-out mice.Nilsson BO, Ekblad E, Heine T, Gustafsson J.
Department of Physiological Sciences, Lund University, Solvegatan 19, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden.
Micromolar concentrations of the biologically active oestrogen 17beta-oestradiol reduce agonist-induced force in vascular preparations through an unidentified mechanism. The aim of the present study was to investigate the importance of oestrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) for oestrogen-induced vascular relaxation. 17beta-oestradiol was added to aortic rings from ERbeta knock-out (-/-) and wild-type (+/+) mice precontracted with noradrenaline. 17beta-oestradiol caused a concentration-dependent (1-100 microM) relaxation of aortic rings from both -/- and +/+ animals of both sexes. Rings from male and female -/- mice were more sensitive to 17beta-oestradiol than those from +/+ mice. Medial thickness, determined by computerized image analysis, was similar in rings from -/- and +/+ animals. Endothelium, as determined by immuno-cytochemistry, was present in -/- and +/+ aorta. Maximal noradrenaline evoked force and sensitivity to noradrenaline were similar in both groups. In summary ERbeta modulates vascular relaxation to microM concentrations of oestrogen; lack of ERbeta renders the vascular wall supersensitive to 17beta-oestradiol. Lack of ERbeta caused no change in vascular wall morphology suggesting that this ER subtype is not involved in vascular structure development.
PMID: 10927637 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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This would seem to corroborate the observations described in your citation in that the vaso-relaxation effects of estrogen might counter the vaso-constrictive pro-noradrenergic effects of cocaine.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:65049
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010530/msgs/65169.html