Estrogen - Mystery Drug for the Brain?

Produktbeschreibung

It is well known that estrogen is "somehow" a protective hormone for various
age-related disorders. This book provides a solid knowledge of estrogen's
neuroprotective activities in the brain with a special emphasis on neurodegenerative
disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease. The focus is (1) to describe the
biochemical, molecular, and cellular basis of the protective activity of
estrogen and (2) to transfer this knowledge into the hospitals by discussing
preventive and therapeutic approaches such as estrogen replacement therapy
for post-menopausal women. Besides up-to-date information on estrogen and
the brain, this book explains in a highly understandable manner molecular
and cellular techniques by which basic data have been collected. The reader,
which may include the professional specialist as well as the interested
non-specialist, will also gain insight into the scientific transfer process
of knowledge from basic science to the clinical situation and, therefore
"from bench to bed". 

Inhaltsverzeichnis

General abbreviations.- 1. Introduction.- Estrogen - more than "just" a female
sex hormone.- Estrogen is a hormone: but what are hormones, anyway?.- A little
history.- How do hormones act?.- Estrogen - THE sex hormone and more.- 2.
Estrogen is a steroid.- Production of sex hormones in the gonadal glands.-
Biosynthesis of sex hormones.- 3. Estrogen acts via receptors.- "Estrogen's
classics" - the genomic pathway of estrogen action.- Modulation of the estrogen
receptor function.- To be or not to be? Are there membrane ERs?.- 4.
"Non-classical" activities of estrogen.- Rapid non-genomic effects compared to
slow genomic effects of steroid hormones: what makes the difference?.- Rapid
effects of estrogen.- Structure-dependent effects: estradiol as antioxidant.-
Reactive oxygen species (ROS): normal byproducts of life under oxygen.-
Antioxidant defense lines of the cell.- Estradiol is an antioxidant similar to
?-tocopherol (vitamin E).- Dietary phenols and the blood-brain-barrier.- 5.
General physiological activities of estrogen.- Lessons from the ERKO-mice.- 6.
Estrogen's actions in the brain.- Estrogen receptors in the brain.-
Neuroactivities of estrogens in brain areas outside the hypothalamus: the effect
of sex differences.- Effects of estrogen on the cholinergic system.- Effects of
estrogen on the serotonergic and catecholaminergic system.- Activities of
estrogen on glial cells.- Are there gender differences in brain function?.-
Sexual differentiation and gross gender differences in brain structure and
function.- Sex differences in the function of the hippocampus.- "Non-classical"
activities of estrogen in the brain.- Estrogen as "neuroactive steroid" and
estradiol's non-genomic effects at neuronal membranes 79 Estrogen's"cross-talks"
with the intracellular signaling in neurons.- Estrogen and MAP kinase
signaling.- Estrogen's "cross-talk" with other signal pathways in neurons.-
Estrogen is a phenolic antioxidant.- The pathogenetic role of oxidative stress
in the CNS.- The brain is particularly sensitive to oxidative stress.- 7.
Protection of the brain by estrogen.- Estrogen as drug for the brain?.-
Menopause, and estrogen replacement therapy (ERT).- Estrogen and human diseases:
general beneficial effects of estrogen.- Estrogen as a drug for the treatment
and prevention of brain diseases?.- Estrogen in neuropsychiatric disorders.- 8.
Nerve cell protection by estrogen: molecular mechanisms.- Life is difficult, at
the cellular and molecular level, too.- Protective effect of estrogen in
cultured neuronal cells.- Mechanisms of nerve cell death.- The two main routes
to cell death: apoptosis and necrosis.- Executioners of apoptosis: caspases.-
How to detect apoptosis?.- Is there apoptosis in Alzheimer's Disease?.-
Apoptosis in post-mortem AD brain tissue.- Apoptosis and necrosis of nerve cells
in culture (in vitro).- AD genetics and apoptosis.- Investigations of estrogen's
neuroprotective activities in vitro.- Intracellular molecular mechanisms of
neuroprotection by estrogen.- Direct ER-dependent neuroprotection: induction of
neuroprotective genes.- "Cross-Talks" of estradiol with neuroprotective
signaling.- MAP-kinase signaling.- Phosphatidylinositol 3 (PI3)-kinase.- NF-?B.-
NF-?B is an oxidative stress-responsive transcription factor.- NF-?B has
anti-apoptotic and pro-apoptotic activities.- Cyclic AMP/CREB-signaling.-
Intracellular Cat2+levels and electrophysiology.- Estradiol is a neuroprotective
antioxidant: ER-independent effects.- Oxidative stress as a generaltrigger of
nerve cell death.- Oxidative stress in neurodegeneration.- Estradiol is a
neuroprotective antioxidant.- 9. Outlook.- Estrogen's neuroprotective target
genes and estrogen's effects on neuronal stem cells.- Estrogen and stem cells.-
10. References.