Alzheimer's Disease: In Search of Cellular Clues
Julie Rathbun
Laurie McHale
uwnews.org
_________
Washington (US):
Among its many salutary effects, estrogen seems to protect the brain against the ravages of Alzheimer's disease:
numerous clinical studies support that finding. But how does it accomplish this feat? Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle are involved in a number of basic-science studies that are beginning to provide answers.
Post-menopausal women have somewhat higher rates of Alzheimer's than men. Scientists think the incidence in women is related to the sudden loss of natural estrogen to the brain, as the ovaries cease production during menopause. In men, testosterone converts to estrogen in the brain, where it apparently performs a similar protective function.
However, men do not experience the same sudden decrease in hormone levels at midlife.
Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) restores estrogen levels to those of younger women. Various studies show that ERT protects against Alzheimer's (including the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, which showed that women on ERT have about half the chance of developing Alzheimer's compared to women not on ERT).
But there have not been definitive answers to the question of how estrogen protects neurons (brain cells).Researchers led by Dr. Daniel Dorsa, UW professor of psychiatry and pharmacology and interim associate dean of medicine for scientific affairs, are examining estrogen's effects at basic cellular levels, studying rat brains and cell cultures.
Dec 01, 2005
Julie Rathbun
Laurie McHale
uwnews.org
_________
Washington (US):
Among its many salutary effects, estrogen seems to protect the brain against the ravages of Alzheimer's disease:
numerous clinical studies support that finding. But how does it accomplish this feat? Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle are involved in a number of basic-science studies that are beginning to provide answers.
Post-menopausal women have somewhat higher rates of Alzheimer's than men. Scientists think the incidence in women is related to the sudden loss of natural estrogen to the brain, as the ovaries cease production during menopause. In men, testosterone converts to estrogen in the brain, where it apparently performs a similar protective function.
However, men do not experience the same sudden decrease in hormone levels at midlife.
Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) restores estrogen levels to those of younger women. Various studies show that ERT protects against Alzheimer's (including the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, which showed that women on ERT have about half the chance of developing Alzheimer's compared to women not on ERT).
But there have not been definitive answers to the question of how estrogen protects neurons (brain cells).Researchers led by Dr. Daniel Dorsa, UW professor of psychiatry and pharmacology and interim associate dean of medicine for scientific affairs, are examining estrogen's effects at basic cellular levels, studying rat brains and cell cultures.
Dec 01, 2005
