Rapid, non-transcriptionally mediated, effects of glucocorticoids affect many behaviors as
well as inhibition of function in the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal axis. In this short review, it
is argued that the fast glucocorticoid actions which are mediated by membrane receptors are
an ancient type of sterol/steroid-mediated effect, and that these may be the primordial
glucocorticoid receptors. Although the fast feedback actions of the glucocorticoids enjoyed
study in the middle of the last century, new results and the availability of new techniques …