Endocrine Abstracts

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common neurodegenerative disease associated with ageing, is still an incurable condition. Although in vitro evidence strongly indicates that oestrogen exerts neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects, the role of this class of hormones in the treatment of AD is still a debated issue. In 2000 a new gene, named seladin-1 (for Selective Alzheimer’s Disease indicator-1), was identified and found to be down regulated in vuln...

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The neuroprotective and promyelinating actions of progesterone, now well documented by experimental studies, make it a particularly promising therapeutic agent for neuroinjury. This concept has recently been translated into clinical practice. Progesterone can also be locally produced in the nervous system by neurons and glial cells. Importantly, increased progesterone synthesis after brain injury may be part of endogenous neuroprotective responses. However, the mechanisms by w...

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