Scientists Discover How Estrogen Works on the Brain

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2010) — Estrogen is an elixir for the brain, sharpening mental performance in humans and animals and showing promise as a treatment for disorders of the brain such as Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. But long-term estrogen therapy, once prescribed routinely for menopausal women, now is quite controversial because of research showing it increases the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Northwestern Medicine researchers have discovered how to reap the benefits of estrogen without the risk. Using a special compound, they flipped a switch that mimics the effect of estrogen on cortical brain cells. The scientists also found how estrogen physically works in brain cells to boost mental performance, which had not been known.

When scientists flipped the switch, technically known as activating an estrogen receptor, they witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of connections between brains cells, or neurons. Those connections, called dendritic spines, are tiny bridges that enable the brain cells to talk to each other.

"We created more sites that could allow for more communication between the cells," said lead investigator Deepak Srivastava, research assistant professor in neuroscience at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "We are building more bridges so more information can go from one cell to another."

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101117161246.htm

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. Ask any menopausal woman --

we can tell you. And it ain't purty. :D

[hlthe2b]

2. Estrogen is wonderful.... that is all.

;)

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. Yes it is.

I didn't fully appreciate it until I started losing it. And by "it", I mean both it and IT. I would KILL to get my hands on some of that estrogen they are playing with.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. +1

Right there with ya :hi:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. Back in the day --

I would have been one of those poor souls carted off to asylum suffering from "hysteria". :D :hi:

[truedelphi]

6. Same here. And I watched one of my Alzheimer's patients go from

Moderately impaired to full tilt impaired when one of her doctors took her off her estrogen supplements. I know that is only "anecdotal" but it really was a dramatic change in someone.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

7. Both my Mom and sister -

had their ovaries out (Mom due to a benign tumor and Sis because she was stupid) and within a week both had a significant reaction. My Sis literallyy went a little nuts and stayed that way for over a year until she got treatment, and Mom spiraled into a major depressive episode that required medication to bring her out of.

When I started going peri I could track where I was in my cycle by how nuts I was -- it was like a switch going on and off at certain times, with very little ability for me to control.

I think we are just at the beginning stages of just what hormones do for/on the brain.

[kestrel91316]

8. Very interesting. I find myself wondering if estrogen might have played a role

in my own mother's serious mental problems that came to the fore when she was 39, and then a year or two after she had a hysterectomy at age 44 she REALLY went permanently off the deep end.

I am perimenopausal, and I think I need to be sure I stay on soy and isoflavones and phytoestrogens FOR LIFE, lol.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. I'm bipolar and there is no doubt that my monthly cycles and and hormones play a role

in how I am functioning.

[spinbaby]

10. I wonder if it'll fix hot flashes

We ladies who "glow" but can't take estrogen, would love to get our hands on that "special compound."