COGNITION AND ESTROGEN IN MENOPAUSE

目前，超过4000万美国女性缺乏雌激素， 更年期的结果。 在50岁时，一个美国女人可以期望生活在 三分之一的时间都在更年期 更年期雌激素缺乏 带来的变化可能对未来产生深远的影响 妇女的健康和福祉。 认知功能的改变， 尤其是记忆力和注意力， 妇女 因为雌激素调节大脑的几个区域， 对绝经后妇女的认知功能很重要。 但 雌激素缺乏与认知功能改变的关系 绝经后妇女所经历的是非常有争议的。 此外，委员会认为， 雌激素替代疗法（ERT）是否能改善 绝经后妇女或阿尔茨海默病妇女的认知功能 疾病（AD）（AD患者数量与男性AD患者数量之比为2：1）。的关系 绝经期雌激素状态和认知功能之间的关系是困难的 出于各种原因，包括道德， 注意事项。 另一种方法是在一个 合适的动物模型。 食蟹猴是一个很有价值的模型 因为她们的月经周期与女性相似， 对雌激素缺乏和雌激素替代疗法的生理反应 类似于绝经后妇女，他们能够复杂的 与人类认知能力相似的认知功能。 在 目前的建议，雌激素缺乏和雌激素替代疗法对 将在手术绝经的猴子中测定认知能力。 将在卵巢切除术前后对猴进行行为表征， 在ERT治疗期间，在一系列行为任务上， 评估学习，记忆和注意力，认知能力， 在绝经后妇女中受损。此外，慢性ERT的能力 在手术绝经的猴子中， 胆碱能和多巴胺能遗忘剂的挑战 代理商也将接受评估。 该项目的主要目标是 提供了一个基础的信息， 认知和雌激素状态的长期研究计划，将 研究荷尔蒙状态，认知， 衰老和神经生物学。 阐明雌激素与 状态和认知功能将是有价值的指导 绝经后女性和AD女性的未来临床研究，以及 在指导治疗绝经后妇女的公共卫生政策方面， 他们剩下的20-30年的生活。

Over 40 million American women are presently estrogen-deficient as a result of menopause. At age 50, an American woman can expect to live one-third of her life in menopause. Estrogen deficiency of menopause brings on changes that can have far reaching consequences on the future health and well-being of women. Alterations in cognitive functioning, particularly memory and attention, are experienced by postmenopausal women. Because estrogen modulates several brain regions that are important for cognitive function of postmenopausal women. However, the relationship between estrogen deficiency and cognitive changes experienced by postmenopausal women is highly controversial. Moreover, there is controversy whether estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) improves cognitive function in postmenopausal women, or women with Alzheimer's disease (AD) (who outnumber men with AD by 2:1). The relationship between estrogen states and cognitive function in menopause is difficult to study rigorously in women for a variety of reasons, including ethical considerations. An alternative is to examine these relationships in an appropriate animal model. Cynomolgus monkeys are a valuable model because they have menstrual cycles similar in pattern to women, they physiologically respond to estrogen deficiency and ERT in a manner similar to postmenopausal women, and they are capable of complex cognitive functions that parallel cognitive abilities in humans. In the present proposal, the effects of estrogen deficiency and ERT on cognitive abilities will be determined in surgically menopausal monkeys. Monkeys will be behaviorally characterized before and after ovariectomy, and during treatment with ERT, on a series of behavioral tasks that assess learning, memory and attention, cognitive abilities that are impaired in postmenopausal women. Moreover, the ability of chronic ERT to preserve cognitive function in surgically menopausal monkeys during pharmacologically challenges with cholinergic and dopaminergic amnestic agents also will be assessed. The broad objectives of this project are to provide a foundation of information about the relationship between cognition and estrogen states for a long-term research plan that will investigate interrelationships between hormonal states, cognition, aging, and neurobiology. Elucidating the relationship between estrogen states and cognitive function in monkeys will be valuable in guiding future clinical studies in postmenopausal women and women with AD, and in directing public health policy for treating postmenopausal women in their remaining 20-30 years of life.