Effects of steroid hormones on catalase activity in neuronal and glial cell systems

The aim of the present study was to determine short- (1 and 3 h) and long-term (24 h) effects of glucocorticoids [GCs; corticosterone (CORT), dexamethasone (DEX) and 6-methylprednisolone (6-MP)] and gonadal steroids [GSs; 17beta-estradiol (E2), progesterone (PROG) and testosterone (TEST)] on the activity of the hydrogen-peroxide-detoxifying enzyme catalase (CAT) in neural hippocampal HT22 cells and glial C6 cells because such effects have been described in peripheral organ systems. In HT22 cells, only long-term treatment with glucocorticoids (10(-5) M) induced effects on catalase activity, whereas gonadal steroids (10(-5) M) affected catalase activity after both short- and long-term incubations. At a lower concentration of 10(-7) M, glucocorticoids exerted only short-term treatment effects on catalase activity, while gonadal steroids (10(-7) M) affected the enzyme activity after short- and long-term treatments. In C6 glial cells, both glucocorticoids (10(-7) M) and gonadal steroids (10(-7) M) induced short- and long-term treatment effects. Thereby, our data show that steroid hormones differentially regulate catalase activity in models of the central nervous system (CNS) in a time- and steroid-dependent manner.