It is well established that female sex hormones have a pivotal role in inflammation. For instance, our group has previously reported that estradiol has proinflammatory actions during allergic lung response in animal models. Based on these findings, we have decided to further investigate whether T regulatory cells are affected by female sex hormones absence after ovariectomy. We evaluated by flo...

The incidence of cancer of the female genital organs is extremely high. Conservative estimates place the total at more than 20 per cent of all cancer. The uterus and mammary glands seem especially vulnerable. Normally these organs are subject to (1) spurts of growth which (2) prepare them for funtion after which they (3) undergo retrogression. This generalization applies to both nonpregnant ani...

In his Upjohn lecture Professor G. W. Harris (5964) reviewed experiments on the effects of gonadal hormones on the sexual behaviour of animals. He compared sexual behaviour pat terns of male rats castrated on the first day of life with those of adult castrates. When fully grown, these day-old castrates were either primed with oestrogen and progesterone and tested for female mating behaviour, or...

Hormonal changes during non-maternal infant care have been demonstrated in many cooperatively breeding bird species, some monogamous rodents and two species of New World primates. Coevolution of hormones and social traits may have provided for the different breeding systems that occur today. Several hormones have been shown to covary with the breeding systems of vertebrates. Elevated levels of ...

In a case-control study, we compared 238 women with intraocular malignant melanoma to 223 matched controls with detached retinas to evaluate the influence of hormonal factors on the risk of this cancer. We observed increased risk among women who had ever been pregnant (relative risk, 1.4; 95% confidence interval, 0.8, 2.2) and women who used replacement estrogens (relative risk, 2.0; 95% confid...

Commentary Infantile spasms (IS) is a catastrophic epilepsy syndrome occurring during the specific developmental period of infancy and early childhood. In addition to the stereotypic motor spasms, patients with IS typically develop long-term intellectual disability and other seizure types that are often resistant to treatment. A variety of acquired brain injuries at this critical age can result...

Effective alveolar ventilation and hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) are higher in females than in males and after endogenous or exogenous elevation of progesterone and estrogen. The contribution of normal physiological levels of ovarian hormones to resting ventilation and ventilatory control and whether their site(s) of action is central and/or peripheral are unclear. Accordingly, we examined...

The effects of estradiol and progesterone on social recognition were evaluated in a habituation-dishabituation procedure. Ovariectomized female rats were either given 18 microg/kg of estradiol benzoate followed by progesterone, 1 mg/rat, 48 h later or oil. The test consisted of 4 consecutive exposures to a juvenile rat and a final exposure to a novel juvenile. Although the time spent investigat...

An increasing number of premenopausal women use contraception whereas postmenopausal women use hormone replacement therapy (HRT). This long-term hormone therapy poses a high risk of interactions with dietary supplements. Taking estrogens at the same time as selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), biologically-active compounds of glycine soja, Ginkgo biloba or Pimpinella anisum, may dist...