Pregnanolone

Pregnanolone is a neurosteroid and an active metabolite of pregnenolone (Cay19864). It is formed from pregnenolone via the intermediates progesterone (Cay15876) and 5beta-dihydroprogesterone (Cay34644). Pregnanolone enhances the binding of flunitrazepam to GABAA receptors in rat brain homogenate (EC50 = 237 nM) and inhibits currents induced by GABA in Xenopus oocytes expressing rho1 subunit-containing GABAC receptors (IC50 = 550 nM). It protects against seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ, Cay18682) in a rat model of perimenstrual catamenial epilepsy (ED50 = 2.16 mg/kg). Pregnanolone (20 mg/kg) increases the number of entries into and percentage of time spent in the open arms of the elevated plus maze in mice, indicating anxiolytic activity. It induces anesthesia in rats. SMILES C[C@@]12[C@](CC[C@@H]2C(C)=O)([H])[C@]3([H])CC[C@]4([H])C[C@H](O)CC[C@]4(C)[C@@]3([H])CC1 InChi Code InChI=1S/C21H34O2/c1-13(22)17-6-7-18-16-5-4-14-12-15(23)8-10-20(14,2)19(16)9-11-21(17,18)3/h14-19,23H,4-12H2,1-3H3/t14-,15-,16+,17-,18+,19+,20+,21-/m1/s1 InChi Key AURFZBICLPNKBZ-YZRLXODZSA-N