ArticleBiomolecules2019
The Steroidogenesis Inhibitor Finasteride Reduces the Response to Both Stressful and Rewarding Stimuli.
Article in Biomolecules, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- An exploratory analysis of 5-alpha reductase inhibitors and risk of opioid use disorder among male Medicare beneficiaries receiving prescription opioid medications.The American journal on addictions · 2026Article
- The role of neuroactive steroids in psychiatric and neurological disorders: Neurobiology and therapeutic perspectives.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
- Progesterone Promotes Anti-Anxiety/Depressant-like Behavior and Trophic Actions of BDNF in the Hippocampus of Female Nuclear Progesterone Receptor, but Not 5α-Reductase, Knockout Mice.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Prefrontal 5α-reductase 2 mediates male-specific acute stress response.Science advances · 2025Article
- Witnessed trauma exposure induces fear in mice through a reduction in endogenous neurosteroid synthesis.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- The hypothalamic steroidogenic pathway mediates susceptibility to inflammation-evoked depression in female mice.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2023Article
- The steroidogenic inhibitor finasteride reverses pramipexole-induced alterations in probability discounting.Brain research bulletin · 2022Article
- Allopregnanolone: The missing link to explain the effects of stress on tic exacerbation?Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2022Review
- The 5α-reductase inhibitor finasteride reduces opioid self-administration in animal models of opioid use disorder.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2021Article
- Bioactive Lipids in Health and Disease.Biomolecules · 2020Article
- Prenatal resident-intruder stress decreases levels of allopregnanolone in the cortex, hypothalamus, and midbrain of males, and increases levels in the hippocampus and cerebellum of female, juvenile rat offspring.Neurobiology of stress · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Finasteride (FIN) is the prototypical inhibitor of steroid 5α-reductase (5αR), the enzyme that catalyzes the rate-limiting step of the conversion of progesterone and testosterone into their main neuroactive metabolites. FIN is clinically approved for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and male baldness; while often well-tolerated, FIN has also been shown to cause or exacerbate psychological problems in vulnerable subjects. Evidence on the psychological effects of FIN, however, remains controversial, in view of inconsistent clinical reports. Here, we tested the effects of FIN in a battery of tests aimed at capturing complementary aspects of mood regulation and stress reactivity in rats. FIN reduced exploratory, incentive, prosocial, and risk-taking behavior; furthermore, it decreased stress coping, as revealed by increased immobility in the forced-swim test (FST). This last effect was also observed in female and orchiectomized male rats, suggesting that the mechanism of action of FIN does not primarily reflect changes in gonadal steroids. The effects of FIN on FST responses were associated with a dramatic decrease in corticotropin release hormone (CRH) mRNA and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels. These results suggest that FIN impairs stress reactivity and reduces behavioral activation and impulsive behavior by altering the function of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.