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Steroid hormones and the cardiovascular system: Direct actions of estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, gluco- and mineralcorticoids, and soltriol [vitamin D] on central nervous regulatory and peripheral tissues

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Summary

Knowledge of steroid hormone sites of action and related effects in cardiovascular and neural regulatory tissues is reviewed. Evidence for nuclear receptor sites is derived mainly from autoradiographic studies with relatively intact tissues and some biochemical studies with tissue homogenates.

In the heart and in the walls of blood vessels, estradiol, dihydrotestosterone, corticosterone, aldosterone, dexamethasone, and soltriol (vitamin D) show nuclear binding. In the brain and spinal cord, neuronal regions associated with cardiovascular regulation contain nuclear receptors in specific patterns for each steroid hormones, including progesterone and soltriol. These data indicate that all steroid hormones exert direct actions on the cardiovascular system at its different levels of organization, thus enabling adjustment to the changing demands during reproduction (gonadal steroids), stress (adrenal steroids), and solar seasons (vitamin D-soltriol).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of North Carolina, 27599, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

    W. E. Stumpf

  2. Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina, 27599, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

    W. E. Stumpf

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Stumpf, W.E. Steroid hormones and the cardiovascular system: Direct actions of estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, gluco- and mineralcorticoids, and soltriol [vitamin D] on central nervous regulatory and peripheral tissues. Experientia 46, 13–25 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01955408

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