2016/01/01 by April Au, Anita Feher, Lucy McPhee +4 · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · Neuroscience · #Estrogen and related hormone effects #Menopause: Health Impacts and Treatments #Stress Responses and Cortisol
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2016.01.002
openalex publication_date 2016/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The effects of estrogens are pleiotropic, affecting multiple bodily systems. Changes from the body's natural fluctuating levels of estrogens, through surgical removal of the ovaries, natural menopause, or the administration of exogenous estrogens to menopausal women have been independently linked to an altered immune profile, and changes to cognitive processes. Here, we propose that inflammation may mediate the relationship between low levels of estrogens and cognitive decline. In order to determine what is known about this connection, we review the literature on the cognitive effects of decreased estrogens due to oophorectomy or natural menopause, decreased estrogens' role on inflammation--both peripherally and in the brain--and the relationship between inflammation and cognition. While this review demonstrates that much is unknown about the intersection between estrogens, cognition, inflammation, we propose that there is an important interaction between these literatures.