Interactions between estrogen and thyroid hormone ligands and their receptors in primary cerebellar cell culture

Abstract

Estrogen (E2) and thyroid hormones (THs) play pivoltal roles in central nervous system (CNS) development, including cell division, cell proliferation, cell maturation and apoptosis. In the mature CNS, these hormones regulate metabolism on cellular and organismal levels. Thus, E2, THs and certain other hormones (such as ghrelin, leptin and insulin) not only regulate the energy metabolism of the entire organism, but simultaneously also regulate important homeostatic parameters of neurons involved in the neuroendocrine regulation of energy balance. It is, therefore, obvious that the mechanisms through which these hormones exert their effects are plentiful and include both intra- and intercellular actions. Although the referred hormonal mechanisms are versatile, experimental investigation of simultaneous hormone-induced mechanisms is technically extremely difficult. To top those difficulties, the normal physiological setting of metabolic parameters depend on a plethora of interactions of the aforementioned, so-called trophic hormones.