Female gender and estrogen-replacement therapy in postmenopausal women are associated with improved heart failure survival, and physiological replacement of 17 -estradiol (E2) reduces infarct size and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in animal models of myocardial infarction (MI). Here, we characterize the molecular mechanisms of E2 effects on cardiomyocyte survival in vivo and in vitro. Ovariectomized ...

OBJECTIVE Postmenopausal status increases some aspects of women's physiological responses to psychological stress; however, the influences of chronic hormone replacement with estrogen and progestogen on these responses are not known. We investigated possible effects of long-term estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), both with and without progestogen, on physiological reactivity to brief laborator...

Objective: Our aim was to investigate the effects of levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system on the endometrium of ovariectomized rats under estrogen replacement therapy. Methods: Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups and operated for the insertion of levonorgestrelreleasing (3 μg/day) or placebo-bearing intrauterine devices (IUD). Following the operation, the rats ...

OBJECTIVE A review of the medical literature concerning the effect of the menopause and its hormonal treatment on the skin. METHODS An extensive Medline and Pubmed internet search utilizing the key words: collagen, elastin, estrogen, hormone replacement therapy, skin and aging. RESULTS The literature review demonstrated a wide array of research ranging from basic science work to clinical im...

In this study, we tested whether estrogen deficiency is associated with oxidative stress and decreased nitric oxide (NO) production, which could be responsible for an increased blood pressure in ovariectomized rats. Hemodynamic studies were performed on conscious, chronically instrumented rats. Chronic estrogen replacement on ovariectomized rats lowered blood pressure approximately 13 mmHg, fro...

The ovariectomized (OVX) Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) rat fed a low-salt diet is a model of postmenopausal hypertension. In addition to estrogen loss, aging can also contribute to postmenopausal hypertension. We hypothesized that: (1) female DS rats on a low-salt diet become hypertensive with age; (2) ovariectomy accelerates age-dependent hypertension in the DS rat caused by estrogen depletion; and...

Postmenopausal women demonstrate an increased incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Epidemiological evidence suggests that estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) may reduce the risk or delay the onset of AD, yet recent clinical trials found no cognitive benefits of ERT in women with mild to moderate AD. This review suggests that the timing of estrogen administration may explain these conflicting r...

Poor outcome in response to hepatitis C virus, including higher viral load, hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis, is more associated with men and postmenopausal women than with premenopausal women and women receiving hormone replacement therapy, suggesting that β-estradiol plays an innate role in preventing viral infection and liver disease. Consequently, most research in the field has conclu...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the cognitive effects of high-dose oral estrogen alone or in combination with oral methyltestosterone in postmenopausal women. METHODS Participants were tested with a randomized, double-blind design on the Identical Pictures, Cube Comparisons, Building Memory and Shape Memory tasks before and after 4 months of hormone treatment. RESULTS Women receiving estrogen and...