Disease relevance of Postmenopause

• During a two-year study, we examined the effect of calcium supplementation on postmenopausal bone loss in 43 women in the early postmenopausal period who were assigned to one of three treatment groups: percutaneous 17 beta-estradiol (combined with progesterone during the second year), oral calcium (2000 mg daily), and placebo [1].
• To further explore the role of gonadotropins in promoting amyloidogenesis, M17 neuroblastoma cells were treated with the gonadotropin luteinizing hormone (LH) at concentrations equivalent to early adulthood (10 mIU/ml) or post-menopause/andropause (30 mIU/ml) [2].
• Thus, in early postmenopause, the major mechanism of increased renal calcium conservation after ERT is an increase in TRCa due to an increase in serum PTH because of estrogen-induced inhibition of bone resorption [3].
• The aim of the present study was to analyze the influence of the PAI-1 promoter 4G/5G genotype on PAI-1 levels in post-menopause women with coronary disease in comparison with healthy women in pre and postmenopausal status, and the influence of this genotype on variations in PAI-1 levels after hormone replacement therapy (HRT) [4].
• COX-2 may be associated with endometrial cancer carcinogenesis during the postmenopausal period but not with tumor aggressiveness and p53 overexpression [5].

Psychiatry related information on Postmenopause

• In a vast majority of studies, the use of estrogen replacement in the postmenopausal period was associated with a reduced risk of dementia [6].
• No hard data exist to indicate whether estrogen could be used as adjunct therapy for other depressive disorders during the menopausal transition or postmenopausal period, but newer findings suggest that estrogens may improve the effect of serotonin reuptake inhibitors [7].
• BACKGROUND: The Women's Healthy Lifestyle Project Clinical Trial tested the hypothesis that reducing saturated fat and cholesterol consumption and preventing weight gain by decreased caloric and fat intake and increased physical activity would prevent the rise in LDL cholesterol and weight gain in women during perimenopause to postmenopause [8].
• Clinical recovery from depression postpartum, perimenopause, and postmenopause through restoration of stable/optimal levels of estrogen has been noted [9].

High impact information on Postmenopause

• Estrogen therapy prevents bone loss in postmenopausal women who take it early in the postmenopausal period [10].
• IL-1RII/IL-1RI mRNA ratios and release of soluble IL-1RII (sIL-1RII) were lower in OC-like cells derived from women in the late postmenopausal period compared with younger women, but were unrelated to male donor age, suggesting that estrogen might play a role in regulating IL-1 receptor levels in vivo [11].
• Could institutional clinical trials exist in Europe? EUTERP Pilot Study Group. European Trial of Estrogen/progestin Replacement treatment in Post-menopause [12].
• In women, epitestosterone exhibited a maximum around 20 yr of age, followed by a continuous decline up to menopause and by a further increase in the postmenopause [13].
• Women at least 5 yr postmenopause (n = 299) were randomized to either 10 mg alendronate, matching alendronate placebo, or open-label intranasal calcitonin 200 IU daily for 12 months [14].

Chemical compound and disease context of Postmenopause

• Therefore, in the planning phase of a prospective study of Hormones and Diet in the Etiology of Breast Cancer (ORDET study), androgen levels have been examined at two different times in 56 women (26 in premenopause and 30 in postmenopause) [15].
• Persistence of increased bone resorption and possible role of dehydroepiandrosterone as a bone metabolism determinant in osteoporotic women in late post-menopause [16].
• Impact of different hormone replacement therapy regimens on the size of myoma uteri in postmenopausal period: tibolone versus transdermal hormonal replacement system [17].
• We have investigated the activity of tamoxifen in 12 post-menopause patients affected by advanced breast carcinoma and, in this specific case, by metastatic pleural effusion [18].

Biological context of Postmenopause

• The effects of oral alendronate treatment on spinal bone mineral density and biochemical markers of bone turnover were assessed in women in the early postmenopausal period [19].
• RESULTS: Baseline retinol levels were significantly lower (P <or= 0.05) in subjects <or= 45 years than in older subjects, and among subjects in the age range 46-55 years, they were significantly higher (P <or= 0.001) in those in postmenopause than in those in premenopause [20].
• The immunostaining intensity of IGF-I, IGF-IR, and IGFBPs in fallopian epithelial cells was cycle-dependent and considerably higher in late proliferative and early-mid secretory compared to late secretory phases, with little immunostaining in the early proliferative phase of the menstrual cycle and postmenopausal period [21].
• Nutrition and 'lifestyle' may exert its carcinogenic effects indirectly by cell stimulations (alcohol, hormone therapy in postmenopause), inhibition of DNA-repair mechanisms (lack of vitamins), effecting estrogen metabolism (phytoestrogenes), or as promotors to enhance growth of tumours (body mass index) [22].
• CONCLUSION: The transition from pre to perimenopause as well as from peri to postmenopause seems to be independently related to a high increase of depressive symptomatology [23].

Anatomical context of Postmenopause

• In previous studies we have shown that monocytes from patients with high turnover osteoporosis and from women in early postmenopause elaborate increased amounts of interleukin-1 (IL-1), a cytokine that stimulates bone resorption in vitro and in vivo [24].
• The mammary gland sequentially acquires and cyclically exhibits proliferative responses to estrogen and/or progesterone from birth to postmenopause [25].
• CONCLUSIONS: A moderate intensity exercise program induces favourable alterations in total serum cholesterol and other atherogenic indices in hyperlipidemic women postmenopause, and these changes are related more to loss of body fat than to increased fitness level [26].
• In contrast, TNF-alpha type 1 receptor mRNA expression was higher in endometrium from the secretory phase (6.6 +/- 0.6 x 10(7) copies) compared to the menses (5.1 +/- 0.5 x 10(6) copies), proliferative phase (1.9 +/- 0.1 x 10(6) copies) and postmenopausal period (5.8 +/- 0.7 x 10(4) copies [P < 0.05]) [27].
• The discovery of alpha and recently beta estrogen receptors on coronary female vessels unaffected by atherosclerosis either during pre and post-menopause phase are possible key of interpretation of pathophysiology of coronary artery disease in women, with important therapeutic consequence [28].

Associations of Postmenopause with chemical compounds

• Compared to postmenopausal women, perimenopausal women had more overall estrone excretion (2.5-6.2 ng/mg Cr in postmenopausal women; P = 0.02) and lower mean FSH (range of means for postmenopause, 24-85 IU/g Cr; P = 0.017) and LH (range for postmenopause, 4.3-14.8 IU/g Cr; P = 0.041) [29].
• There were no significant changes in the serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin LD or vitamin D-binding protein levels from the pre- to the postmenopausal period [30].
• Among postmenopausal women, a steep, age-related decline in nocturnal melatonin secretion was found for up to 15 years postmenopause, followed by an extremely gradual decline thereafter [31].
• Two years' effectiveness of intravenous pamidronate (APD) versus oral fluoride for osteoporosis occurring in the postmenopause [32].
• Forty-nine postmenopausal women, mean age 61 +/- 5 years, mean time postmenopause 12.6 +/- 8.8 years, were treated with atorvastatin, 20 mg per day ( n=24) or matching placebos ( n=25) for 8 weeks [33].

Gene context of Postmenopause

• Based on increasing evidence that ovarian regulation involves a complex system of putative para/autocrine factors, we investigated the possibility of gene-selective intraovarian GH/placental lactogen (PL) hormone production, with emphasis on differences between pre- and postmenopause [34].
• The immunostaining for EGF, TGF alpha, and EGF-R was cycle-dependent, was considerably higher during late proliferative and early-to-mid-secretory phases than during early proliferative and late secretory phases of the menstrual cycle, and was reduced during the postmenopausal period [35].
• This suggests that neither IL-1 nor IL-6 by itself is the major mediator for increased bone loss due to estrogen deficiency in the early postmenopausal period [36].
• As we adjusted the cut-off points by menopause states, the PAI-1 positivity increased mainly in post-menopause cancer patients [37].
• We concluded that ER and PR diminish sharply at post-menopause [38].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Postmenopause

• During the postmenopausal period, plasma estrogen concentrations decrease dramatically and remain low for the rest of her life, unless she chooses to take hormone replacement therapy [39].
• Early postmenopause, previous estrogen/progestin therapy, high body mass index, and greater duration of hot flushes at baseline were significant predictors of the need for symptomatic treatment [40].
• RESULTS: The overall mean age of the patients was 66 years, the mean duration of the postmenopause was 15 years, the overall mean PI was 1.96 +/- 0.90, and the mean duration of taking vaginal estradiol tablets was 1.97 years for the study group; and 64 years, 13 years and 2.88 +/- 0.96 for the control group, respectively [41].
• These microtopographical results showed that the decline of estrogen during the menopause and postmenopause induces important and complex structural changes of the woman's reproductive system, much more detailed than those revealed to date by the use of only conventional optical and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) [42].

References