Anesthetic Effects of Progesterone Are Undiminished in Progesterone Receptor Knockout Mice
January 2005
in “
Brain Research
”
TLDR Progesterone's anesthetic effects don't rely on progesterone receptors.
The study investigated the anesthetic effects of progesterone in progesterone receptor knockout (PRKO) mice to determine if these effects were mediated by progesterone receptors (PRs). The results showed that the anesthetic activity of progesterone was undiminished in PRKO mice compared to wild-type mice, indicating that PRs did not mediate this activity. Instead, the neurosteroid allopregnanolone, which is a metabolite of progesterone and modulates GABAA receptors, was found to partially mediate the anesthetic effects. The study used 5α-reductase inhibitor finasteride to demonstrate that blocking the conversion of progesterone to allopregnanolone reduced its anesthetic activity, further supporting the role of allopregnanolone in this process.
