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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 297/3/F559    most recent 90399.2008v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Geerling, J. C. Articles by Loewy, A. D. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Geerling, J. C. Articles by Loewy, A. D.

REVIEW

Aldosterone in the brain

Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri

Submitted 7 July 2008 ; accepted in final form 27 February 2009

ABSTRACT

Pharmacological and physiological phenomena suggest that cells somewhere inside the central nervous system are responsive to aldosterone. Here, we present the fundamental physiological limitations for aldosterone action in the brain, including its limited blood-brain barrier penetration and its substantial competition from glucocorticoids. Recently, a small group of neurons with unusual sensitivity to circulating aldosterone were identified in the nucleus of the solitary tract. We review the discovery and characterization of these neurons, which express the enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2, and consider alternative proposals regarding sites and mechanisms for mineralocorticoid action within the brain.

sodium deficiency; glucocorticoids; mineralocorticoids; nucleus of the solitary tract; blood-brain barrier; 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase