OESTROGENS EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN: MULTIPLE SITES AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS
Keywords:
responsive, previously, hypothalamus, hippocampus, cerebellum, dopaminergic, addition, differences, neurotransmittersAbstract
Recent research is showing that the brain is more widely responsive to gonadal hormones than previously thought. That is, not only is the hypothalamus affected by circulating estrogens and androgens but also structures like the hippocampus, which undergo sexual differentiation and are hormone responsive in maturity. Even the cerebellum is sensitive to estrogens. Moreover, major projecting neurons such as cholinergic, serotonergic, noradrenergic, and dopaminergic systems are responsive to gonadal hormones. In addition, one of the most striking effects of ovarian steroids is the cyclic induction of synapses not only in the hypothalamus but also in the hippocampus of female rats. Studies of this process have revealed new aspects of steroid hormone action involving the interactions between cells and between steroid hormones and neurotransmitters. Finally, there are developmentally programmed sex differences in many of these systems; therefore, it is not so surprising that a variety of nervous and mental disorders and recovery of the brain from damage are subject to sex differences and to gonadal hormone regulation.
This review traces the development of studies on no reproductive actions of ovarian hormones as an outgrowth of the studies of steroid hormone receptors in brain and their role on reproductive actions of estrogens and progestin’s. An overview of the no reproductive actions of ovarian steroids in three brain areas in the context of our emerging knowledge of cellular mechanisms of steroid hormone actions and sexual differentiation of the brain and in relation to the impact of stress on cognitive function is also provided.
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