Just as DHEA is a precursor to the sex hormones, pregnenolone is a precursor to DHEA. If we look at DHEA as being the mother hormone to the sex hormones, then pregnenolone is the grandmother. It is not surprising, then, that pregnenolone, like DHEA, is produced in the brain and in the adrenal glands. And like the majority of the body's other hormones, pregnenolone levels, too, tend to decline with age.

Since pregnenolone is a mother hormone to DHEA, and grandmother to the sex hormones, it is again not surprising that raising the levels of pregnenolone tends to bring about raised levels of the other hormones as well.

Pregnenolone is found in very high concentrations in the brain. This, no doubt, is one reason why it has been looked at for its effects on brain function. Studies so far indicate that pregnenolone is indeed capable of enhancing mental performance. Some of these enhancements take the form of improved memory and improved capacity for learning. Also, pregnenolone has been shown to bring about improvements in mood and decreases in depression.

Decades back, pregnenolone was used in easing the pain of arthritis. Then, in the 1940's, cortisone came onto the scene, relegating pregnenolone to the back of the shelf. However, with serious side effects to cortisone treatment showing up, pregnenolone may well see a resurgence in this area of application.

Because pregnenolone is a precursor to DHEA, and in turn to the sex hormones, this would tend to explain why it is capable of raising the levels of these hormones. Further, since pregnenolone does affect the sex hormones, it should not surprise us that it does serve somewhat different functions in men than it does in women. In women, more of the pregnenolone goes into the production of estrogen, while in men, more of it is used to produce testosterone. (A good thing - otherwise men would sing soprano and women would grow beards) However, with this differing role in males and females, and given the dangers of side effects where levels of DHEA, estrogen, or testosterone are brought to a point higher than are normally found in the body, one is well advised to have pregnenolone treatment done under the care of a doctor, with monitoring being done on all the hormones that may be affected by pregnenolone.