Older news items (pre-2010) brought over from the old website
Hormone therapy for prostate cancer can produce temporary cognitive impairment
A new study finds men treated with hormone therapy for prostate cancer may experience temporary cognitive changes in visual memory of figures and recognition speed of numbers. No other cognitive areas were affected. The degree of cognitive change was related to the magnitude of decline in the level of estradiol (a form of estrogen in men).
Salminen, E.K., Portin, R.I., Koskinen, A., Helenius, H. & Nurmi, M. 2005. Estradiol and Cognition during Androgen Deprivation in Men with Prostate Carcinoma. CANCER; Published Online: February 28, 2005 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.20962); Print Issue Date: April 1, 2005.
Estrogen boosts memory in men with prostate cancer
A new study suggests that high doses of estrogen may improve long-term memory and decrease feelings of confusion in men whose testosterone levels have been lowered to treat advanced prostate cancer. The findings suggest that hormone deprivation, prostate cancer or a combination of the two significantly impair verbal memory, while estrogen therapy significantly improves verbal memory performance. Hormone deprivation appears to slow working memory performance, but did not affect accuracy. Supplementation with estrogen did not affect working memory.
Beer, T.M. & Janowsky, J. 2004. High dose estrogen may enhance memory in men with prostate cancer. Presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology annual meeting in New Orleans, La. on June 6.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-06/ohs-ebm060604.htm
Elevated testosterone kills nerve cells
Testosterone is the main male hormone and plays a crucial role in neuronal function. However, a new study has found that high levels of testosterone triggered programmed cell death in nerve cells in culture. Increased loss of brain cells has been associated with several neurological illnesses, such as Alzheimer disease and Huntington disease. The findings point to another potential danger of steroid use.
[1017] Estrada, M., Varshney A., & Ehrlich B. E.
(2006). Elevated testosterone induces apoptosis in neuronal cells.
The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 281(35), 25492 - 25501.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-09/yu-etk092606.htm
Testosterone deprivation makes men forget
A study of men undergoing testosterone deprivation therapy for prostate cancer has found that verbal memory is significantly affected. While initial learning of words is unaffected, such testosterone-deprived men show marked forgetting after two minutes. This rapid drop in memory suggests the lack of testosterone affects the function of the hippocampus. Healthy older men, on average, have about a 40% loss in their normal levels of testosterone as they age, from the ages of 20 or 30, to 70.
Paper presented at the 34th Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego in late October 2004.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/ohs-ost102504.php
Older men with higher testosterone levels performed better on cognitive tests
A study of the levels of estrogen and testosterone in 300 older men enrolled in a larger study of risk factors for osteoporosis in men found that a higher level of testosterone was associated with better performance on various cognitive tests. The level of estrogen had no apparent effect. The study looked only at natural levels of hormones, and it is too soon to say whether testosterone supplements would help prevent cognitive decline. Although some previous studies have suggested that testosterone might benefit the brain, most of these studies have been of younger men.
[576] Yaffe, K., Lui L-Y., Zmuda J., & Cauley J.
(2002). Sex Hormones and Cognitive Function in Older Men.
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 50(4), 707 - 712.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-04/uoc--tao041502.php
