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Estrogen Neuroprotective Activity After Stroke and Spinal Cord Injury

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Neurobiological and Psychological Aspects of Brain Recovery

Part of the book series: Contemporary Clinical Neuroscience ((CCNE))

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Abstract

Morphological studies have revealed that in mammals the brain is a sexually dimorphic organ and estrogen are responsible for brain masculinization which occur perinatally. These morphological differences underline significant functional divergences that are not all directly associated with the control of reproductive functions and are very relevant to the control of cognitive functions as well in the response to physiopathological insults. An appreciation of the sexually dimorphic functions of the brain will facilitate the development of more efficacious therapies for sex-prevalent disorders; in addition, the understanding of the molecular pathways lessening the incidence of neurological or neuropsychiatric diseases in a given sex will shed novel light on their etiology and provide new avenues for a therapeutic intervention.

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Acknowledgements

The work done in AM laboratory is currently supported by the European Union’s grants ERC-2012-ADG322977-Ways and Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 278850 (INMiND), and Italian grant CARIPLO (2013-0786); however, we like to gratefully acknowledge the considerable impact on our understanding of women physiology provided in the past for US National Institute of Aging (MADRI NIH RO1-AF027713) and the EU Programme STREP EWA LSHM-CT-2005-518245.

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  1. Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, Center of Excellence on Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Milan, Via Balzaretti 9, 20129, Milan, Italy

    Adriana Maggi

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  1. Adriana Maggi
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Correspondence to Adriana Maggi .

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  1. Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Laura Petrosini

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Maggi, A. (2017). Estrogen Neuroprotective Activity After Stroke and Spinal Cord Injury. In: Petrosini, L. (eds) Neurobiological and Psychological Aspects of Brain Recovery. Contemporary Clinical Neuroscience. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52067-4_12

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