Steroid hormones primarily exert their action by entering the nucleus of a cell and initiating and/or altering the expression of a gene. This process is crucial for the various physiological effects that steroid hormones have on the body.
When a steroid hormone binds to its specific intracellular receptor, the hormone-receptor complex translocates to the cell nucleus. Once inside, it can bind to specific DNA regions, either enhancing or inhibiting the transcription of particular genes. This gene expression leads to the production of proteins that are involved in a range of bodily functions, from metabolism to immune responses.
While steroid hormones may also influence some metabolic processes like glycogen synthesis indirectly, their primary mechanism of action involves gene regulation at the transcriptional level. This is different from other hormones that might act more quickly through signaling pathways or receptor binding at the cell surface.