Pregnenolone
Cholesterol-derived steroid hormone positioned at the apex of the steroidogenic pathway. Serves as the obligate precursor to progesterone, DHEA, cortisol, aldosterone, testosterone, and estradiol via CYP11A1 side-chain cleavage. Also functions as an endogenous neurosteroid, enhancing memory consolidation through NMDA receptor potentiation and microtubule stabilization.
Three tiers ordered by aggressiveness. Tier chips on every OPTIMIZE intervention let you filter the catalog by your evidence tolerance.
- dhea-s
- cortisol
- total-testosterone
- estradiol
- thyroid-panel
- lipid-panel
- hormone-sensitive-cancer
- seizure-disorder-progesterone-sensitive
- pregnancy
- PMID:11524135Pregnenolone sulfate enhances memory in rats — Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2001
- PMID:18471771Neurosteroids in learning and memory processes — Int Rev Neurobiol, 2001
- PMID:20005240Pregnenolone as a neurosteroid in memory modulation — Psychopharmacology, 2010
- PMID:24215796Pregnenolone alterations in schizophrenia — Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2014
Pregnenolone sits at the top of the steroid cascade. Every downstream hormone your body produces — testosterone, estradiol, cortisol, progesterone, DHEA — begins here. The master precursor. The problem with exogenous pregnenolone is the same as the promise. It can flow downstream into any pathway. Your body decides the allocation, not you. That unpredictability is why the evidence tier stays at 2 despite the pharmacology being well-characterized. The neurosteroid effects on memory are the most interesting application — direct NMDA potentiation independent of downstream conversion.
This is not medical advice
Discuss with a licensed clinician before starting, stopping, or changing any compound. This page documents what the research literature describes — it is not a prescription.
See Pregnenolone in a protocol matched to you