title: Estradiol: Mediator of memories, spine density and cognitive resilience to stress in female rodents.
abstract: Estradiol rapidly activates, within minutes, various physiological functions and behaviors including cognition in rodents. This review describes rapid effects of estradiol on hippocampal dependent learning and memory tasks in rodents. Mechanisms underlying the memory enhancements including the activation of signaling molecules and the enhancement of dendritic spinogenesis are briefly reviewed. In addition, the role of estradiol in the cognitive resilience to chronic stress exhibited only in females is discussed including contributions of ovarian as well as intra-hippocampally derived estrogens to this sex difference. Finally, speculations on possible physiologic functions for rapid mnemonic changes mediated by estrogens are made. Overall, the emergence of a novel and powerful mechanism for regulation of cognition by estradiol is described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Hunter College of CUNY, 695 Park Ave., Rm 611 HN, New York, NY 10065, United States. Electronic address: vluine@hunter.cuny.edu.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Luine
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D049229:Dendritic Spines / Q000502:physiology*; D004958:Estradiol / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D012377:Rodentia; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013312:Stress, Physiological
chemical_list: D004958:Estradiol
keywords: Dendritic spines; Estradiol; Hippocampus; Recognition memory; Sex differences; Stress