By Paddy Kamen, Publisher, BetterBrainBetterLife.com
Do you think better when taking hormone supplements? If so, it might be because the estrogen is actually transforming misshapen, donut-shaped mitochondria (the parts of cells responsible for energy production and other processes) into healthy, straight mitochondria. Cognitive decline appears to have a lot to do with the mitochondria in the cells of the prefrontal cortex.
Do you think better when taking hormone supplements? If so, it might be because the estrogen is actually transforming misshapen, donut-shaped mitochondria (the parts of cells responsible for energy production and other processes) into healthy, straight mitochondria. Cognitive decline appears to have a lot to do with the mitochondria in the cells of the prefrontal cortex.
Research published today in the peer-reviewed journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates that estrogen restores synaptic health and also improves working memory. The research involved cognitive testing on 29 rhesus monkeys. Those with misshapen mitochondria performed worse in tests of workingmemory. Estrogen reversed both the malformation of mitochondria and the memory deficits in those poorly functioning monkeys.
“We were excited to see that the occurrence of these donut-shaped mitochondria could be reversed with estrogen, which has known antioxidant effects,” said Yuko Hara, PhD, the lead researcher, and assistant professor in the Fishberg Department of Neurosciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
With material from EurekAlert.
“We were excited to see that the occurrence of these donut-shaped mitochondria could be reversed with estrogen, which has known antioxidant effects,” said Yuko Hara, PhD, the lead researcher, and assistant professor in the Fishberg Department of Neurosciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
With material from EurekAlert.