Estrogen and progesterone-based hormone therapy and the development of Alzheimer's disease
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This dissertation seeks to investigate the broad issue of the effects of sex steroid hormones on neuroprotective measures related to aging and the prevention of the progression of Alzheimer?s disease (AD). In particular, this dissertation will focus on the effects of female sex steroid hormones, estrogen and progesterone both alone and in combination on AD in women. Abundant evidence implicates sex steroid depletion in postmenopausal women as a risk factor for the development of AD. However, there appears to be a disconnect between experimental data clearly establishing multiple estrogen protective functions, and clinical findings showing that estrogen-based hormone therapy fails to prevent and slow progression of cognitive decline and AD. Furthermore, while estrogen?s many beneficial effects in the brain have been well established, the effects of progesterone, both alone and in combination with estrogen, are currently unclear and under-investigated. The Women?s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) raised several questions regarding the actions of progestins in the brain and the efficacy of hormone therapy in lowering the risk of AD in post-menopausal women. These questions are the basis behind the experiments described in this dissertation
Author: Carroll, Jenna C. (author)
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2222121699