Investigation of the cellular and physiological effects of 5 alpha-tetrahydro reduced glucocorticoids in vitro and in vivo

Glucocorticoids have been the most widely used anti-inflammatory drugs. However, chronic excessive exposure to glucocorticoids causes numerous side effects, including obesity, hypertension and type II diabetes. Thus dissociated steroids with anti-inflammatory efficacy and reduced metabolic side effects are an attractive therapeutic goal. A previous study has shown that 5a-tetrahydro corticosterone (5aTHB), produced by steroid 5a-reductases in rodents, is an activator of glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Therefore, we hypothesized that 5aTHB may possess some of the properties of the parent steroid to transactivate and transrepress genes regulated by GR and have shown it possesses some of the characteristics of a dissociated steroid.

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Edinburgh

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Yang, Chenjing

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/29433

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:era.ed.ac.uk:1842/29433