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Estrogen and the aging brain: an elixir for the weary cortical network
Author(s) -
Dumitriu Dani,
Rapp Peter R.,
McEwen Bruce S.,
Morrison John H.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05529.x
Subject(s) - elixir (programming language) , estrogen , cortical neurons , brain aging , neuroscience , medicine , psychology , computer science , cognition , programming language
The surprising discovery in 1990 that estrogen modulates hippocampal structural plasticity launched a whole new field of scientific inquiry. Over the past two decades, estrogen‐induced spinogenesis has been described in several brain areas involved in cognition in a number of species, in both sexes and on multiple time scales. Exploration into the interaction between estrogen and aging has illuminated some of the hormone's neuroprotective effects, most notably on age‐related cognitive decline in nonhuman primates. Although there is still much to be learned about the mechanisms by which estrogen exerts its actions, key components of the signal transduction pathways are beginning to be elucidated and nongenomic actions via membrane bound estrogen receptors are of particular interest. Future studies are focused on identifying the most clinically relevant hormone treatment, as well as the potential identification of new therapeutics that can prevent or reverse age‐related cognitive impairment by intercepting specific signal transduction pathways initiated by estrogen.