Hormones: nootropics and compounds | sci-wiki nootropic DB + forum

Pregnenolone

Pregnenolone is the first neurosteroid synthesized from cholesterol in the brain and the common precursor of all steroid hormones, including DHEA, progesterone and cortisol [32] [33]. It has attracted clinical interest primarily in psychiatry: emerging preclinical and clinical evidence positioned it as a candidate adjunct in schizophrenia, where it raises downstream neurosteroids such as allopregnanolone [2], and preclinical work in Parkinson disease models shows it reduces L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias in rats and monkeys [31] [32]. It enhances learning and memory in rodents, promotes neural stem cell proliferation and oligodendrogenesis [35], and hypothalamic pregnenolone was shown to mediate recognition memory in the context of metabolic disorders [36]. Sulfated forms like pregnenolone sulfate act on TRP channels and immune cells [34] [37]. A 2026 finding that endogenous pregnenolone can promote tumor immune evasion in mice adds a cautionary note to the longevity supplement narrative [38].

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Peptide

Epithalon

Epithalon is the synthetic pineal tetrapeptide alanyl-glutamyl-aspartyl-glycine (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, AEDG), designed from the amino acid composition of Epithalamin, a bovine pineal gland extract [1]. Its signature finding is reactivation of telomerase: in telomerase-negative human fetal fibroblasts it induced the catalytic subunit, enzymatic telomerase activity and telomere elongation [2]. In transgenic HER-2/neu mice it prolonged average and maximum lifetime by 13.5 and 13.9 percent, extended the tumor-free lifetime by 34.2 percent, and suppressed breast adenocarcinoma development and lung metastases [7]. It also raised nocturnal melatonin peaks threefold in old rhesus monkeys [8], reduced chromosome aberrations in senescence-accelerated mice [9], and protected the retina in rats with hereditary pigmentary dystrophy [10].

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Nootropic

DHEA

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is an endogenous androstane neurosteroid and the most abundant circulating steroid hormone in humans, secreted chiefly by the adrenal cortex and also synthesized de novo within the central nervous system. It functions primarily as a precursor to androgens and estrogens, yet exerts direct actions on the brain by acting as an agonist at the sigma-1 receptor (an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone protein that shapes calcium and neurotrophic signaling), as a positive modulator of NMDA receptor (the principal excitatory glutamate ion channel involved in learning) signaling, and, chiefly as its sulfate ester DHEAS, as a negative allosteric modulator of the GABA-A receptor (the brain's main inhibitory ion channel). DHEA additionally behaves as a functional anti-glucocorticoid, buffering the neurotoxic effects of cortisol, and shows neuroprotective and mood-related activity in preclinical and clinical studies. Circulating concentrations peak in early adulthood and decline markedly with age, a phenomenon termed adrenopause that has driven its widespread use as an over-the-counter supplement.

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