COGNITION AND ESTROGEN IN MIDDLE-AGED FEMALE MONKEYS

自然绝经或手术绝经引起的雌激素缺乏症 这些变化可能对人类健康和福祉产生深远影响。 绝经后妇女表现出认知功能的改变， 可能是由于雌激素流失。然而，确定 雌激素状态和认知功能可能很难在女性中研究， 各种各样的原因。为了克服这些困难，研究人员 在年轻的猴子中研究了药物诱导的更年期的影响。损失 雌激素，独立于衰老的影响，可以导致减少， 认知加工然而，由于女性的平均年龄 更年期的经验是50年，下一步是确定是否 年龄和雌激素损失的交互作用对认知能力的损害更大， 比单独的雌激素更有能力。本项目的目的是确定 中年人雌激素水平与认知功能的关系 恒河猴雌激素水平将通过卵巢切除术来控制， 雌激素替代疗法（ERT）。这项研究将扩大最初的 在年轻的雌性猴子到中年进行的行为调查 雌性猴子，并确定卵巢切除的中年雌性猴子是否 一个合适的动物模型的中年绝经后妇女。

Estrogen deficiency caused by natural or surgical menopause yields changes that can have far reaching consequences on human health and well-being. Postmenopausal women show alterations in cognitive function that are thought to be attributable to estrogen loss. However, determining the relationship between estrogen states and cognitive function can be difficult to study in women for a variety of reasons. To circumvent these difficulties, the investigator has examined the effects of surgically-induced menopause in young monkeys. Loss of estrogen, independent of the effects of aging, can cause decrements in cognitive processing. However, because the average age at which women experience menopause is 50 years, the next step is to determine whether the interactive effects of age and estrogen loss are more deleterious to cognitive abilities than estrogen alone. The purpose of this project is to determine the relationship between estrogen states and cognitive function in middle-aged rhesus monkeys. Estrogen levels will be manipulated through ovariectomy and estrogen replacement therapy (ERT). This study will extend the initial behavioral investigations conducted in young female monkeys to middle- aged female monkeys and determine if the ovariectomized middle-aged female monkey is an appropriate animal model of the middle-aged postmenopausal woman.