Hormones and Cerebellar Development

Abstract

Cerebellar development and plasticity involve various epigenetic processes that activate specific genes at different time points, including humoral influences from endocrine cells. Of the circulating hormones, a group of small lipophilic hormones including steroids (corticosteroids, progesterone, androgens, and estrogens) and thyroid hormones help mediate environmental influences on the cerebellum. Receptors for such lipophilic hormones are mainly located inside the cell nucleus (nuclear receptor, NR). They represent the largest family of ligand-regulated transcription factors. In the cerebellum, they are expressed in a