Neurosteroids as regulators of neuroinflammation
Canelif Yilmaz; Kanelina Karali; Georgia Fodelianaki; Achille Gravanis; Triantafyllos Chavakis; Ioannis Charalampopoulos; Vasileia Ismini Alexaki
Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology2019
Summary (paraphrased)
Neuroinflammation is protective in acute injury but drives neurodegeneration when chronic, with microglial and astrocytic activation seen across multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and traumatic brain injury. This review shows that the CNS is itself a highly steroidogenic environment and that locally synthesized neurosteroids regulate the inflammatory activation of glia. Neurosteroid synthesis can shift under pathological conditions, and restoring it dampens chronic neuroinflammation in several models. The paper positions neurosteroid signaling as a master regulator that determines whether glial responses resolve or become self-perpetuating.
Why it’s in the corpus
Mechanistic bridge: chronic neuroinflammation is a leading candidate for why PFS neuropsychiatric symptoms persist, and this review shows neurosteroid depletion is a plausible driver of that chronicity.
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