Journal
NEUROBIOLOGY OF AGING
Volume 33, Issue 9, Pages 1950-1958Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2011.08.002
Keywords
Hysterectomy; Iron; Metal; Dementia; Risk; Gender; Myelin; Oligodendrocytes; White matter; Gray matter; Treatment; Prevention
Categories
Funding
- Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc.
- Novartis
- NIH [MH 0266029, AG027342]
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- RCS Alzheimer's Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Iron is essential for triggering oligodendrocytes to myelinate, however, in gray matter (GM) iron increases with age and is associated with age-related degenerative brain diseases. Women have lower iron levels than men, both in the periphery and in the brain, particularly in white matter (WM), possibly due to iron loss through menstruation. We tested the hypothesis that hysterectomy could increase WM iron levels. We assessed 3 WM and 5 gray matter regions in 39 postmenopausal women, of whom 15 had premenopausal hysterectomy, utilizing a validated magnetic resonance imaging technique called field-dependent R2 increase (FDRI) that quantifies ferritin iron. A group of 54 matched male subjects was included for comparison. Amongst women, hysterectomy was associated with significantly higher frontal lobe WM iron. Men had higher iron levels than women without hysterectomy in 3 brain regions but did not differ from women with hysterectomy in any region. The results suggest that menstruation-associated blood loss is a source of gender differences in brain iron. It is possible that brain iron can be influenced by peripheral iron levels and may thus be a modifiable risk factor for age-related degenerative diseases. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available