Estrogen and the Aging Primate Brain

这一多机构合作努力的进展主要集中在与雌激素状态有关的行为特征受试者大脑中的定量形态计量学分析。在这类研究中，Hara和同事测试了支配前额皮质46区神经元树突末梢的突触形态是否与卵巢激素状态和衰老的认知结果有关。电镜检查的超微结构定量集中在非突触、单突触和多突触钮扣上。总的结果是，虽然衰老本身的影响相对较小，但更年期确实与突触形态有关，这些影响与背外侧前额叶皮层支持的认知能力的个体差异相结合。我们预计项目工作将继续阐明一些重要的妇女健康问题，涉及卵巢激素对正常认知衰老的调节作用。

Progress on this multi-institutional collaborative effort has focused primarily on quantitative morphometric analysis in the brains of behaviorally characterized subjects in relation to estrogen status. In a study of this sort, Hara and colleagues tested whether the synaptic morphology of terminals innervating the dendrites of neurons in Area 46 of the prefrontal cortex are altered in relation to ovarian hormone status and the cognitive outcome of aging. Quantification of ultrastructure examined by electron microscopy focused on non-, single-, and multi-synaptic boutons. The overall pattern of results was that, whereas aging alone had relatively little effect, menopause was reliably linked to synaptic morphology and these effects were coupled with individual differences in cognitive capacities supported by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We anticipate project efforts will continue to illuminate a number of significant womens health issues concerning the modulatory influence of ovarian hormones on normal cognitive aging.