Androstenol

[jvkohl]

The Pheromone Androstenol

(5-androst-16-en-3-ol) Is A Neurosteroid Positive Modulator of GABAA

Receptor

http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/jpet.105.098319v1?ct

From my

1996 article....noradrenergic, dopaminergic, serotoninergic, and opiotergic pathways; inhibitory neurotransmitters

(e.g., gammaaminobutyric acid) and excitatory amino acids (e.g., glutamic and aspartic acids); and other brain

peptides including pineal secretions (melatonin) and corticotrophin releasing hormone, and the complex interactions

among them are subtle but functional species specific influences on the electrochemical transmission of neuronal

signals that the hypothalamus translates to the chemical signal GnRH (Grumbach & Styne, 1992).

Technical, of

course, but what all this means is that we're now closer to determinining how pheromones elicit changes in behavior

--like those changes elicited by psychotropic drugs that influence the pathways mentioned

above.

JVK

[DrSmellThis]

Sounds like it could have

quite a number of neurotransmitter-like functions (receptor modulation); and works practically with GABA, for

multiple purposes. People will probably have to enlarge their concept of what different kinds of things pheromones

do. It does sound similar to some psychotropic drugs, although we don't know much about the clinical significance

of the effects in humans. The effect on mouse depression sounds somewhat promising. It will be interesting when we

can connect more dots and also bring it into everyday terms. This is also suggestive for the other

16-androstenes.