UC Davis Study Shows Estrogen Protects Brain Cells And Reduces Risk Of Developing Alzheimer's Disease

[Guest guest]

http://news.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/estrogen_alzheimers.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

November 14, 2001

 

UC DAVIS STUDY SHOWS ESTROGEN PROTECTS BRAIN CELLS AND REDUCES RISK OF

DEVELOPING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

 

(SAN DIEGO, Calif.) -- A new study coming out of UC Davis Medical Center and the

Center for Neuroscience shows how

estrogen can protect brain cells against various insults that cause the mental

deterioration seen in many ailments,

including Alzheimer's disease. The study is among those specifically highlighted

at Society for Neuroscience meeting in

San Diego on November 14.

 

" We found, for the first time, that the hippocampus, a brain structure involved

in memory, which shrinks in Alzheimer's

disease patients, was larger in postmenopausal women who were taking estrogen

replacement therapy than in either

postmenopausal women who were not taking estrogen or a group of elderly men, "

says William Jagust, of the University of

California in Davis. " Our results support the idea that estrogen replacement

therapy protects brain cells and reduces

the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in postmenopausal women. "

 

In the study the researchers examined the brains of 59 postmenopausal women and

38 elderly men. Some of the subjects had

mild memory problems but none met the criteria for a diagnosis of Alzheimer's

disease. The brain imaging technique,

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which provides a three-dimensional picture of

the living brain, determined the size of

each subject's hippocampus. The hippocampus was larger in the women taking

estrogen than in the women not taking

estrogen and the men.

 

" These findings suggest that the protective effects of estrogen on the brain may

be lost after menopause but could be

maintained by estrogen replacement therapy, " says Jagust.

 

Earlier MRI studies have found that the hippocampus is smaller in subjects with

Alzheimer's disease than in normal

elderly subjects, according to Jagust. A number of MRI studies also showed that

elderly subjects with mild memory

problems and a small hippocampus are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease

than subjects with memory problems who

do not have a small hippocampus.

 

" This suggests that MRI measures of hippocampal size may be useful for

identifying individuals who are at risk for

developing Alzheimer's disease, as well as for monitoring the effects of various

treatments and protective agents, such

as estrogen replacement therapy, " says Jagust.

 

In the future, the researchers plan to retest the memory of the subjects to

determine if those subjects with a small

hippocampus are more likely to show a decline in memory over time and whether

estrogen replacement therapy helps to

protect the other subjects against memory loss and the development of

Alzheimer's disease.

 

Copies of all news releases from UC Davis Health System are available on the Web

at

http://news.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu

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Now, wonder where the SERM (selective estrogen receptor modifiers)

phytoestrogens (isoflavones from soy and the lignans

from flax) fit in?

 

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Good Health & Long Life,

Greg Watson, gowatson

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