The potential involvement of cholinergic system in finasteride induced cognitive dysfunction
Ashutosh Ahire; Kala P. Nair; B. S. Shankaranarayana Rao; B. N. Srikumar
Psychoneuroendocrinology2021
Summary (paraphrased)
Adult male Wistar rats trained on a partially baited radial-arm maze then received finasteride (30 or 100 mg/kg) or vehicle for seven days. The high dose produced clear spatial-memory deficits on retention testing and reduced sociability with loss of social-novelty preference. Biochemical analysis showed decreased acetylcholinesterase activity in frontal cortex, hippocampus, and septum. The authors interpret this as finasteride-driven disruption of central cholinergic signaling, offering a candidate mechanism for the cognitive complaints reported by finasteride users.
Why it’s in the corpus
One of the few mechanistic studies linking 5-alpha-reductase inhibition to cognitive impairment via the cholinergic system, filling a neurocognitive gap in the corpus's PFS coverage. Connects neurosteroid depletion to measurable brain-enzyme changes.
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