The results of these findings highlight the importance of dose and type/potency of estrogen administered in achieving neuroprotection.

Since a variety of estrogenic compounds are components of ERT preparations and several “designer” estrogens are administered or being developed, it will be critical to assess the efficacies of the wide variety of estrogens in promoting beneficial actions in the brain. Under certain circumstances, 17β-estradiol can either fail Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to protect or even harm the brain. While estradiol can decrease brain injury in the vast majority of studies, estradiol fails to attenuate cell death in some animal models.96,120,121 It is possible that when the degree of injuryis too severe, as may be the case in the hippocampus following prolonged global ischemia,120 the actions of estradiol are not sufficient to prevent cell death. Under other circumstances, estradiol can be

deleterious to neural function. In animal models of epilepsy, estradiol lowers the threshold for seizures Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and facilitates the induction and duration of excitatory neural firing.115,122 These data suggest that ERT may Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical not always exert, only beneficial actions in the brains of postmenopausal women, particularly in those with a medical history of epilepsy. As we continue to learn about, the complexity of estrogen action with selleck kinase inhibitor regards to dose, type of estrogen, and neurological condition, we will be better able to modify and transform estrogen replacement into therapy that exerts only beneficial actions in the brains of postmenopausal women. Molecular mechanisms of estrogen-mediated Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical neuroprotection Estrogen may exert neuroprotective effects through several mechanisms: estrogen can act through ER-depcndent and ER-independent, genomic as well as nongenomic means to attenuate neural injury. Collectively, studies demonstrate that the pathway of estrogen action is influenced by the dose of estrogen

administered. In general, pharmacological levels of estradiol Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical protect the brain through mechanisms that do not require PRs, while physiological levels of estradiol protect the brain through mechanisms that depend upon ERs, as discussed below. Estrogen receptor-mediated mechanisms ERs are critical to our understanding of the mechanisms of estrogen action. Two ER subtypes, or ERs, exist: the classic ERoc and the recently discovered ERβ. Although, MTMR9 portions of ERα and ERβ are quite similar in structure, their distributions throughout the body and the brain are unique. Their unique regional distributions suggest that the receptors play very different roles in the body. Both ERα and ERβ are transcription factors. They bind estradiol through their ligand-binding domains and, upon activation, homodimerize or heterodimerize through zinc finger structures located in the DNA and ligand-binding domains.