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      Tissue-Specific Actions of Glucocorticoids on Apoptosis: A Double-Edged Sword

      review-article
      Author(s): , *
      Publication date (Electronic):
      Journal: Cells
      Publisher: MDPI
      Keywords: glucocorticoids, glucocorticoid receptors, apoptosis

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          Abstract

          First described for their metabolic and immunosuppressive effects, glucocorticoids are widely prescribed in clinical settings of inflammation. However, glucocorticoids are also potent inducers of apoptosis in many cell types and tissues. This review will focus on the established mechanisms of glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis and outline what is known about the apoptotic response in cells and tissues of the body after exposure to glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis affects the skeletal system, muscular system, circulatory system, nervous system, endocrine system, reproductive system, and the immune system. Interestingly, several cell types have an anti-apoptotic response to glucocorticoids that is cytoprotective. Lastly, we will discuss the pro- and anti-apoptotic effects of glucocorticoids in cancers and their clinical implications.

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          Targeted disruption of the glucocorticoid receptor gene blocks adrenergic chromaffin cell development and severely retards lung maturation.

          K. Unsicker, A Aguzzi, Stewart T. Cole … (1995)
          The role of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in glucocorticoid physiology and during development was investigated by generation of GR-deficient mice by gene targeting. GR -/- mice die within a few hours after birth because of respiratory failure. The lungs at birth are severely atelectatic, and development is impaired from day 15.5 p.c. Newborn livers have a reduced capacity to activate genes for key gluconeogenic enzymes. Feedback regulation via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is severely impaired resulting in elevated levels of plasma adrenocorticotrophic hormone (15-fold) and plasma corticosterone (2.5-fold). Accordingly, adrenal glands are enlarged because of hypertrophy of the cortex, resulting in increased expression of key cortical steroid biosynthetic enzymes, such as side-chain cleavage enzyme, steroid 11 beta-hydroxylase, and aldosterone synthase. Adrenal glands lack a central medulla and synthesize no adrenaline. They contain no adrenergic chromaffin cells and only scattered noradrenergic chromaffin cells even when analyzed from the earliest stages of medulla development. These results suggest that the adrenal medulla may be formed from two different cell populations: adrenergic-specific cells that require glucocorticoids for proliferation and/or survival, and a smaller noradrenergic population that differentiates normally in the absence of glucocorticoid signaling.
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            Glucocorticoids in T cell development and function*.

            Melanie S. Vacchio, Jonathan Ashwell, F. Lu (1999)
            Glucocorticoids are small lipophilic compounds that mediate their many biological effects by binding an intracellular receptor (GR) that, in turn, translocates to the nucleus and directly or indirectly regulates gene transcription. Perhaps the most recognized biologic effect of glucocorticoids on peripheral T cells is immunosuppression, which is due to inhibition of expression of a wide variety of activationinduced gene products. Glucocorticoids have also been implicated in Th lineage development (favoring the generation of Th2 cells) and, by virtue of their downregulation of fasL expression, the inhibition of activation-induced T cell apoptosis. Glucocorticoids are also potent inducers of apoptosis, and even glucocorticoid concentrations achieved during a stress response can cause the death of CD4(+)CD8(+ )thymocytes. Perhaps surprisingly, thymic epithelial cells produce glucocorticoids, and based upon in vitro and in vivo studies of T cell development it has been proposed that these locally produced glucocorticoids participate in antigen-specific thymocyte development by inhibiting activation-induced gene transcription and thus increasing the TCR signaling thresholds required to promote positive and negative selection. It is anticipated that studies in animals with tissue-specific GR-deficiency will further elucide how glucocorticoids affect T cell development and function.
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              Chronic high corticosterone reduces neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of adult male and female rats.

              S Brummelte, L.A.M Galea (2010)
              Adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus is altered with stress exposure and has been implicated in depression. High levels of corticosterone (CORT) suppress neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of male rats. However both acute and chronic stress do not consistently reduce adult hippocampal neurogenesis in female rats. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of different doses of corticosterone on hippocampal neurogenesis in male and female rats. Rats received 21 days of s.c. injections of either oil, 10 or 40 mg/kg CORT. Subjects were perfused 24 h after the last CORT injection and brains were analyzed for cell proliferation (Ki67-labeling) or immature neurons (doublecortin-labeling). Results show that in both males and females high CORT, but not low CORT, reduced both cell proliferation and the density of immature neurons in the dentate gyrus. Furthermore, high CORT males had reduced density in immature neurons in both the ventral and dorsal regions while high CORT females only showed the reduced density of immature neurons in the ventral hippocampus. The high dose of CORT disrupted the estrous cycle of females. Further, the low dose of CORT significantly reduced weight gain and increased basal CORT levels in males but not females, suggesting a greater vulnerability in males with the lower dose of CORT. Thus we find subtle sex differences in the response to chronic CORT on both body weight and on neurogenesis in the dorsal dentate gyrus that may play a role in understanding different vulnerabilities to stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders between the sexes. Copyright 2010 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Cells
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Cells
                Journal ID (publisher-id): cells
                Title: Cells
                Publisher: MDPI
                ISSN (Electronic): 2073-4409
                Publication date (Electronic): 26 March 2013
                Publication date Collection: June 2013
                Volume: 2
                Issue: 2
                Pages: 202-223
                Affiliations
                Laboratory of Signal Transduction, National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, 111 T. W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA; E-Mail: gruveral@ 123456niehs.nih.gov
                Author notes
                [* ] Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: cidlows1@ 123456niehs.nih.gov ; Tel.: +1-919-541-1564; Fax: +1-919-541-1367.
                Article
                Publisher ID: cells-02-00202
                DOI: 10.3390/cells2020202
                PMC ID: 3972684
                PubMed ID: 24709697
                SO-VID: a86fb3ab-52b6-4379-b16e-ace699f8a8e4
                Copyright © © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
                License:

                This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

                History
                Date received : 04 February 2013
                Date revision received : 05 March 2013
                Date accepted : 12 March 2013
                Categories
                Subject: Review

                Keywords: glucocorticoids,glucocorticoid receptors,apoptosis
                Data availability:
                Keywords: glucocorticoids, glucocorticoid receptors, apoptosis

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