Is aldosterone synthesized in the CNS regulated and functional?

The enzymes involved in the synthesis of aldosterone are also expressed in areas other than the adrenal gland, including the brain. Aldosterone acts in the brain to produce several cardiovascular effects, some of which might result from aldosterone that is synthesized locally and that acts in a paracrine or autocrine manner. Ye and co-workers recently showed that the mRNA expression of the genes for the last enzyme of the aldosterone pathway, aldosterone synthase, is regulated by sodium depletion, as is the case in the adrenal gland. However, the message for aldosterone synthase in the brain is not increased by chronic angiotensin II stimulation or decreased by a high sodium diet, as it is in the adrenal gland. This suggests that aldosterone produced in the brain has regulatory implications different to those of the circulating steroid and thus its regulation is different.