Bile acids are efficiently removed from sinusoidal blood by a number of transporters including the Na+-taurocholate-cotransporting polypeptide (Ntcp). Na+-dependent bile salt uptake, as well as Ntcp, are expressed twofold higher in male compared with female rat livers. Also, estrogen administration to male rats decreases Ntcp expression. The aims of this study were to determine the hormonal mec...

Cognitive deficits associated with aging and with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease have been attributed to degeneration of cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain. Estrogen is known to provide trophic support to cholinergic neurons, although the mechanisms underlying the actions of estrogen have yet to be determined. Because cholinergic neurons require neurotrophic grow...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of estrogen alteration on the expression of caveolin 2 and 3 in rat smooth muscle of urinary bladder. METHODS Female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups: control, bilateral ovariectomy (Ovx), and bilateral ovariectomy followed by subcutaneous injections of 17β-estradiol (Ovx+Est). After 4 weeks, urodynamic measu...

Introduction : Peptic ulcer occurs more frequently in men than in women, sex differences are less marked after 45 years of age probably because the incidence of ulcer increases in post menopausal women. The general assumption is that the ulcer differences between sexes are related in some way to sex hormones and that the female sex hormones protect against ulceration. The aim of the this study ...

The membrane actions of estrogens can facilitate their genomic actions. To determine whether this facilitation bears on CNS mechanisms for estrogen-dependent behaviors, ovariectomized rats were subjected to a two-pulse treatment of estrogen directly in the hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus. Two days later, each rat was given progesterone and then tested for lordosis behavior, the induction of w...

Endothelin (ET)-1 and ET-3, two peptides with a potent vasoconstrictive property, produce a variety of biological effects in different tissues by acting through two different receptors, the ET-1 selective ET(A) receptor and the non-selective ETB receptor. An increasing body of literature suggests that ET-1 acts as a paracrine/autocrine regulator of ovarian function. Indeed, ETB receptors have b...

New tamoxifen analogues were tested for their antiproliferative activity both in vitro and in vivo. Binding studies showed that both 4-iodotamoxifen and pyrrolidino-4-iodotamoxifen and 2.5-fold higher affinities for the estrogen receptor compared with tamoxifen. Pyrrolidino-4-iodotamoxifen was also 1.5-fold more effective in causing inhibition of estrogen-induced growth of MCF-7 cells compared ...

Rodent and human mammary tumor systems were investigated to relate the steroid alcohol and estrogen sulfotransferase activities to the hormoanl dependency of the tumor as determined by estrogen receptor content. Unlike the normal mammary gland or the hyperplastic alveolar nodule, rodent mammary neoplasms displayed significant levels of these two sulfotransferases. In the hormone-independent mou...

PURPOSE Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is an optic nerve (ON) infarct of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons, and the most common cause of ON-related sudden vision loss. Estrogen has been previously proposed as a neuroprotective treatment for central nervous system ischemia. We evaluated estrogen's potential in post-ON infarct treatment to reduce neuronal loss following a...