Cognitive Effects of Estrogens During Aging

185 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008.To investigate possible neurochemical mechanisms, densities of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors and dopamine transporter (DAT) were measured in the prefrontal cortex of genistein-treated rats by Western blot. D1 and D2 densities did not differ between groups. However, DAT density was lower in the control group relative to the genistein groups. DAT was also lower in old rats. These results suggest that different aspects of executive function are differentially sensitive to estrogen or genistein as well as aging, and that altered prefrontal dopamine could play an important role in mediating the effects of estrogens on executive function.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD