Substitute for Estrogen Without the Risks

Scientists have developed a new selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) called STX that shows promise as an alternative to estrogen treatment for symptoms of menopause while lacking the side effects and risks. Their work was reported in the October 22, 2003, issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

STX mimics the effects of estrogen by activating a novel rapid signaling pathway in nerve cells of the hypothalamus, which controls functions such as ovulation, lactation, body temperature, and energy balance. It avoids the uterus and breasts, whose growth is stimulated by estrogen through a different pathway, leading to increased cancer risk. STX is structurally distinct from SERMS such as tamoxifen and raloxifene, and is about 10 times more potent than estrogen. Thus, it has the potential to be more effective at maintaining cognitive performance of postmenopausal women.

"The function of STX was really identified from our electrophysiological assay based on testing different (SERM) compounds that acted like estrogen in the central nervous tissue, but not in other tissues susceptible to the cancer-causing effects of estrogens,” said Martin J. Kelly, Ph.D., professor of physiology and pharmacology at Oregon Health & Science University (Portland, USA). "Women who don't have hormone replacement therapy have been known to have more cognitive impairment in terms of loss of memory, and a higher incidence of Alzheimer's disease.”




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