A Novel Physiological Role for Cytochrome P450 Enzymes in the Brain?

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/210215

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

The cytochrome P450 enzymes in human liver have been traditionally regarded as drug metabolising enzymes. However, it is now becoming clear that they are distributed in other tissues in the body and that they may serve important and diverse roles in normal physiology. Little is known about their functions in the brain. We have identified a reaction catalysed by these enzymes that generates a chemical found in the brain normally, whose levels are elevated under stress and which, when given to animals, is anxiogenic. This points to a possible involvement of P450 enzymes in a hitherto unexplored branch of the stress response. Importantly, it may lead to the development of novel drugs that block the P450 and therefore block production of the anxiogenic chemical. This proposal is designed to explore the basic biology underlying this system.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2002

End Date: 01-01-2004

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $210,990.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Medical biochemistry - lipids

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

anxiety | anxiety disorders | cytochrome P450 | drug development | hippocampus | molecular toxicology | polymorphic drug metabolism | polymorphic enzymes

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