Endocrine Abstracts

Glucocorticoid actions in the brain are mediated by glucocorticoid receptors (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptors (MR). MR and GR bind endogenously circulating glucocorticoids, share a hormone response element in DNA, and are co-expressed in neurons of the hippocampus and hypothalamus. This arrangement suggests MR and GR functionally cooperate in the regulation of gene expression though hitherto poorly described mechanisms. This possibility was previously exampled by the demon...

Glucocorticoids act via the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Upon ligand binding, GR translocates to the nucleus and binds directly to glucocorticoid responsive elements (GREs) to regulate transcriptional output. Glucocorticoid secretion increases in response to stress to affect transcriptional output within specific areas of the brain including the hippocampus (HC). Therefore, here we assess changes in genome-wide GR chromatin binding profiles in the rat HC in response to a gluc...