Hormone therapy may lower Alzheimer's risk in men

Life Extension,  April, 2007  by Dayna Dye

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Androgen replacement therapy could help prevent the development of Alzheimer's disease, report scientists in the Journal of Neuroscience. * Age-related depletion of testosterone, the primary male hormone, is a newly identified risk factor for Alzheimer's.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Scientists castrated mice that were genetically modified to develop Alzheimer's and administered dihydrotestosterone or a placebo for four months. At the end of the study, castrated mice that received placebo exhibited diminished working memory and elevated beta amyloid (a substance that develops in the brains of Alzheimer's patients), compared to mice that were not castrated or received hormone therapy. The results suggest reduced testosterone levels may promote beta-amyloid accumulation in the brain.

"We've known that low testosterone is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease but now we know why," wrote the scientists. "The implication for humans is that testosterone therapy might one day be able to block the development of the disease."

Reference

* Rosario ER, Carroll JC, Oddo S, LaFerla FM, Pike CJ. Androgens regulate the development of neuropathology in a triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. J Neurosci. 2006 Dec 20;26(51):13384-9.

COPYRIGHT 2007 LE Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning