What has the brain got to do with menopause?
Plenty, researchers at the University of Texas are betting. They've received a 1.4 million grant from the National Institue on Aging to find study whether some of the symptoms that come along with menopause are preventable.
"Most people do not think of the brain as a source of hormones," Gore said. "The brain can also sense levels of estrogen and then increase or decrease its output in order to maintain overall balance of hormones.""We're hoping by funding this study, as well as others dealing with estrogen and the aging brain, that we will be able to understand how best to replace the functions that are lost or impacted by the loss of estrogen," said Andrew Monjan, the chief of the neurobiology aging branch at the National Institute on Aging.
Results of this research may also help us to understand why women become infertile, even as early as their late 30s and 40s. "We want to know what changes occur in the brain's hormones that may be responsible for some of this loss in fertility," said Andrea Gore, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy and lead researcher for the study. She's hoping the study may eventually help women who want to have babies later in life.
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