Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Apr;32(4):604-13.
doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2009.04.008. Epub 2009 May 9.

Brain levels of sex steroid hormones in men and women during normal aging and in Alzheimer's disease

Emily R Rosario  1 , Lilly Chang, Elizabeth H Head, Frank Z Stanczyk, Christian J Pike
Affiliations

Brain levels of sex steroid hormones in men and women during normal aging and in Alzheimer's disease

Emily R Rosario et al. Neurobiol Aging. 2011 Apr.

Abstract

We examined the relationships between normal aging, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and brain levels of sex steroid hormones in men and women. In postmortem brain tissue from neuropathologically normal, postmenopausal women, we found no age-related changes in brain levels of either androgens or estrogens. In comparing women with and without AD at different ages, brain levels of estrogens and androgens were lower in AD cases aged 80 years and older but not significantly different in the 60-79 year age range. In male brains, we observed that normal aging was associated with significant decreases in androgens but not estrogens. Further, in men aged 60-79 years, brain levels of testosterone but not estrogens were lower in cases with mild neuropathological changes as well as those with advanced AD neuropathology. In male cases over age 80, brain levels hormones did not significantly vary by neuropathological status. To begin investigating the relationships between hormone levels and indices of AD neuropathology, we measured brain levels of soluble β-amyloid (Aβ). In male cases with mild neuropathological changes, we found an inverse relationship between brain levels of testosterone and soluble Aβ. Collectively, these findings demonstrate sex-specific relationships between normal, age-related depletion of androgens and estrogens in men and women, which may be relevant to development of AD.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Statement. The authors have no financial, personal or other conflicts related to this study. This study was performed under a human subjects protocol approved the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Brain levels of estrogens and androgens do not significantly change with age in postmenopausal women. Data show brain levels of sex steroid hormones versus age for (A) testosterone (r = −0.27), (B) dihydrotestosterone (r = −0.24), (C) estradiol (r = −0.07), and (D) estrone (r = −0.003) in all female cases (63–95 years, N=12) characterized as neuropathologically normal.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Brain levels of androgens decrease with age in neuropathologically normal men. Data show brain levels of sex steroid hormones versus age for (A) testosterone (r = −0.71), (B) dihydrotestosterone (r = −0.57), (C) estradiol (r = −0.04), and (D) estrone (r = −0.09) in all male cases (50–97 years, N=17) characterized as neuropathologically normal.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Almeida TA, Papadopoulos N. Progression model of prostate cancer. Methods Mol Biol. 2003;222:211–22. - PubMed
    1. Baumgartner RN, Waters DL, Gallagher D, Morley JE, Garry PJ. Predictors of skeletal muscle mass in elderly men and women. Mech Ageing Dev. 1999;107 (2):123–36. - PubMed
    1. Braak H, Braak E. Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 1991;82 (4):239–59. - PubMed
    1. Brinton RD. Impact of estrogen therapy on Alzheimer’s disease: a fork in the road? CNS Drugs. 2004;18 (7):405–22. - PubMed
    1. Burger H, de Laet CE, van Daele PL, Weel AE, Witteman JC, Hofman A, Pols HA. Risk factors for increased bone loss in an elderly population: the Rotterdam Study. Am J Epidemiol. 1998;147 (9):871–9. - PubMed

Publication types