title: Phytoestrogen α-zearalanol improves memory impairment and hippocampal neurogenesis in ovariectomized mice.
abstract: Estrogen is known to provide robust protection of memory in postmenopausal women, but the fact that estrogen may increase the incidence of uterine and breast tumors has undoubtedly limited the clinical use of estrogen. In the present study, the effect of α-zearalanol (α-ZAL), a plant-derived phytoestrogen with low side-effect on uterine and breast, on memory has been evaluated in ovariectomized (OVX) mice when using 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) as an estrogen positive control. Our findings demonstrated that OVX resulted in impaired spatial learning and memory and reduced numbers of newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, while 17β-E2 or α-ZAL treatment significantly improved memory performance and restored hippocampal neurogenesis. We also found the reduction of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and TrkB expression in OVX mice, which were ameliorated by 17β-E2 or α-ZAL supplementation. These results indicated that α-ZAL may improve memory impairments induced by OVX and modulate the expression of BDNF-TrkB benefit to neurogenesis which may be involved in the memory protection from α-ZAL, in a manner similar to that of 17β-E2. The present findings suggested that α-ZAL may be a plausible substitute of 17β-E2 in improving memory in postmenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan 650091, China.
authors.forename: Yilong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650031, China.
authors.forename: Aimei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650031, China.
authors.forename: Hongju
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan 650091, China.
authors.forename: Huicheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan 650031, China.
authors.forename: Yanmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D048789:Phytoestrogens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015029:Zeranol / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D048789:Phytoestrogens; D015029:Zeranol