In vivo characterization of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in rat hippocampus using glucocorticoid neuroendangerment as an endpoint

11 beta-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11 beta-HSD) is the enzyme responsible for the interconversion of corticosterone (CORT) to 11-dehydrocorticosterone (11-DHC). CORT is an adrenal hormone secreted during the stress response and it has widespread effects in many different target tissues. In addition, CORT can exacerbate damage caused by neurological insults, such as kainic acid-induced seizures. In addition to its protective role in the kidney, 11 beta-HSD is also thought to play a role in steroid regulation in the brain. However, it is not known whether the enzyme is acting in vivo as a reductase or a dehydrogenase. If the enzyme is working as a reductase, converting 11-DHC to CORT, it has the potential to exacerbate neurotoxicity due to other agents. On the other hand, 11 beta-HSD could be neuroprotective if the enzyme is acting as a dehydrogenase, deactivating CORT by converting it into 11-DHC. To characterize the enzyme in vivo, we have utilized glucocorticoid neuroendangerment in the hippocampus as an indirect assay of 11 beta-HSD function. We have shown that 11-DHC can exacerbate kainic acid toxicity in adrenalectomized (ADX) rats and this exacerbation is blocked by the 11 beta-HSD antagonist, carbenoxolone; these findings suggest that 11 beta-HSD is working as a reductase in ADX rats. The presumptive reductase activity found in ADX rats was derived from both hippocampal and peripheral forms of the enzyme. In the presence of physiological levels of glucocorticoids, reductase activity was decreased and no dehydrogenase activity was detected. The present study demonstrates that 11 beta-HSD reductase activity, both in vivo and in vitro, occurs only in the presence of low levels of circulating glucocorticoids.