COGNITION AND ESTROGEN IN MENOPAUSE

目前有4000多万美国女性患有雌激素缺乏。 更年期的结果。美国女性在50岁时可以活到 她一生中有三分之一的时间处于更年期。绝经后雌激素缺乏症 带来可能对未来产生深远影响的变化 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，是绝经后所经历的 女人。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。然而， 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极具争议性的。此外， 雌激素替代疗法(ERT)是否有改善作用还存在争议 绝经后妇女或阿尔茨海默病妇女的认知功能 阿尔茨海默病(AD)(阿尔茨海默病患者与男性阿尔茨海默病患者的比例为2：1)。两国关系 更年期雌激素状态和认知功能之间的关系是困难的 出于各种原因对女性进行严格的研究，包括道德 考虑因素。另一种方法是在 合适的动物模型。食蟹猴是一个有价值的模型 因为她们的月经周期与女性相似，所以她们 对雌激素缺乏和ERT的生理反应 类似于绝经后的女性，她们能够产生复杂的 认知功能与人类的认知能力相当。在 目前的建议，雌激素缺乏和ERT的影响 认知能力将在手术绝经期的猴子身上确定。 猴子在卵巢摘除前后会有行为特征， 在ERT治疗期间，在一系列行为任务中 评估学习、记忆和注意力，这些认知能力 在绝经后妇女中受损。此外，慢性ERT的能力 在手术绝经期间保护猴子的认知功能 胆碱能和多巴胺能健忘剂的药理挑战 代理也将接受评估。该项目的总体目标是 以提供有关两国关系的信息基础 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。阐明雌激素与雌激素之间的关系 猴子的状态和认知功能将对指导 未来对绝经后妇女和患有AD的妇女的临床研究，以及 在指导公共卫生政策治疗绝经后妇女方面 他们剩下的20-30年的生命。

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.