Scientists from the University of Chicago in the US found that estrogen, a female sex hormone, may be associated with accelerated accumulation of toxic amyloid proteins in the brains of mice. The appearance of amyloid plaques is characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. Research results published In Scientific Reports.
In the study, scientists exposed a group of female mice to a special antibiotic; The effect of this antibiotic was associated with an increase in the concentration of circulating estrogen in their blood and accelerating the accumulation of toxic amyloid proteins in the brain. Estrogens are a group of female sex steroid hormones that affect reproductive function.
The scientists then began the second phase of the experiment; They removed the ovaries (paired female gonads that synthesize estrogen) from another group of mice that were several weeks old. The result of this intervention was a significant slowdown in the rate of amyloid deposition. Treatment with a drug based on estradiol (one of the estrogens with the strongest biological effect), which was subsequently added to drinking water, led to the opposite effect.
It is stated that more research is needed to determine the mechanisms underlying the relationship between estrogens and toxic proteins, which probably triggers Alzheimer’s disease. The scientists added that their discovery contradicts the common practice of using estrogen-based hormone replacement therapy to prevent cognitive decline in postmenopausal women.
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