Estrogen Found to Protect Brain Cells DataMonitor Healthcare
Newswire - October 10, 2003 Researchers from the University of
North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth and the
University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute collaborated to
discover a critical form estrogen takes that enables it to
protect brain cells. "We discovered a major mechanism by which
estrogen protects nerve cells," said Dr James Simpkins, director
of UNTHSC's Institute for Aging and Alzheimer's disease
Research, in a statement to the press. "We now know how estrogen
keeps brain cells alive even when exposed to an insult like
stroke, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease." If a
compound can retain estrogen's protective benefits and reduce
the side effects because the estrogen is produced in a
controlled fashion in the body, it could change the way strokes,
heart attacks, and chronic conditions such as Alzheimer's
disease are treated, he said. "Essentially, patients will be
able take advantage of the good effects of estrogen