Meeting Abstract
The central nervous system governs interactions between organisms and their environments. Traditionally, the brain has been viewed as a central integrator of circulating hormones, external cues, and internal states. It is clear now that the brain is both a source and a target of hormones like steroids. This has led to a revision of the basic view of the brain as a computational network that responds to steroid signals from the gonads and adrenal glands. Examples from several vertebrate lineages now show that steroid production in some brain regions can be fast, targeted, and locally responsive to external stimuli. This has bolstered the view that steroids can be neuromodulators in their own right. Here, I will explore recent work showing that steroids can fluctuate within brain on acute timescales, enhance sensory and sensorimotor representations, alter the information content of brain circuits, and potentially change their functional connectivity. The ultimate behavioral consequences of steroids as intrinsic signaling molecules within the brain are still unclear, but initial indications are that steroid signaling is important for behavioral discrimination, learning & sensory representations.
