Członkowska Anna, Ciesielska Agnieszka, Joniec Ilona
2nd Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland.
Med Sci Monit. 2003 Oct;9(10):RA247-56.
Gonadal steroids are known to be of prime importance in the normal maintenance of brain function. Data from epidemiological studies suggest that the decline in estrogen following menopause may increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. There is accumulating epidemiological evidence for neuroprotection by estrogens against neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. Although it is unclear whether estrogen may be effective in preventing further cognitive decline in women who already have Alzheimer's disease, several studies indicate that estrogen replacement improves the cognitive performance of postmenopausal women. Despite the somewhat controversial data from human studies, experimental investigations in different animals have shown that estrogen is neuroprotective. Although estrogens are known to exert several direct effects on neurons, the cellular mechanisms involved in the neuroprotective effects of estrogen are still unclear. Estrogen causes most of its neuroprotective effects by means of direct binding to specific nuclear receptors. The anti-oxidant effects of estrogens and activation of different membrane-associated intracellular signaling pathways or neurotrophic cross talk through the signal cascade shared with neurotrophic factors could also contribute to neuroprotection. In this article, we outline the evidence supporting a direct role of estrogen in neuronal survival, and
已知性腺类固醇在大脑功能的正常维持中至关重要。流行病学研究数据表明，绝经后雌激素水平下降可能会增加神经退行性疾病的风险。越来越多的流行病学证据表明，雌激素对神经退行性疾病具有神经保护作用，如阿尔茨海默病。虽然尚不清楚雌激素对已患有阿尔茨海默病的女性预防进一步认知衰退是否有效，但多项研究表明，雌激素替代疗法可改善绝经后女性的认知表现。尽管人体研究数据存在一定争议，但对不同动物的实验研究表明，雌激素具有神经保护作用。虽然已知雌激素对神经元有多种直接作用，但其神经保护作用所涉及的细胞机制仍不清楚。雌激素通过直接与特定核受体结合产生其大部分神经保护作用。雌激素的抗氧化作用以及通过与神经营养因子共享的信号级联激活不同的膜相关细胞内信号通路或神经营养相互作用也可能有助于神经保护。在本文中，我们概述了支持雌激素在神经元存活中直接作用的证据，以及
