Estrogen and performance in recognition memory for olfactory and visual stimuli in females diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) exhibit a deficit in episodic recognition memory for odors. It is hypothesized that the higher rate of AD in women may be due to estrogen-deprivation in postmenopausal women. Research suggests that estrogen may help to minimize cognitive decline in AD as well as postmenopausal olfactory loss. The current study examined the effects of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) on performance of a recognition memory task for olfactory and visual stimuli in women AD patients. Participants included 24 women AD patients who were ERT users and 77 women AD patients who never used ERT. Compared with the ERT non-users, the ERT users committed significantly less false-positive memory errors for olfactory stimuli, whereas performance for visual stimuli did not differentiate between ERT users and non-users. The results suggest benefits of ERT could help ameliorate the earliest symptoms of AD, olfactory dysfunction, and memory impairment.

Influences of hormone replacement therapy on olfactory and cognitive function in postmenopausal women

“…Our finding of an influence of HRT on an odor memory/discrimination task appears to be in accord with the study of Sundermann et al (2006) in which HRT enhanced performance on an odor recognition memory test in 24 postmenopausal women. However, their subjects had AD, unlike ours, and we controlled for potential confounding influences of IQ in our analyses.…”

“…Nonetheless, some later studies employing larger samples supported these early observations. For example, Sundermann et al (2006) reported that ERT improved performance in 24 postmenopausal women with AD on an odor recognition memory task. Such improvement was noted in a later study by these same authors for a threshold test in 16 older non-demented women, but this effect was evident only in women positive for the APOE-ε4 allele, a risk factor for AD (Sundermann et al, 2008).…”

Regional and Gender Study of Neuronal Density in Brain during Aging and in Alzheimer's Disease

“…It has been postulated that estrogen deficiency, following menopause, may contribute to the etiology of the disease. In a 12 case-control and cohort studies conducted in the 1990s, it was suggested that estrogen therapy could delay the onset or contribute to the prevention and/or significantly attenuation of AD (Sundermann et al, 2006 ), but this question is still under discussion (Asthana et al, 1999 ; Henderson et al, 2000 ; Mulnard et al, 2000 ; Henderson, 2014 ).…”

Prognostic Importance of Some Hormones in Menopausal Women in Babylon City-Iraq

“…Unlike menstruation or conception, menopause has not been a major topic of discussion among the public. Very little information has been circulated to the public to increase knowledge on the subject (Sundermann et al, 2006;Fakhsheena Anjum, 2013;Liu, 2007).…”

“…Unfortunately, FSH levels are what most doctors use to diagnose menopause. Estrogen is made from a variety of sources (Sherwin, 2005;Sundermann et al, 2006). The ovary is only one of many sources.…”