| Grant number: | 12/51176-9 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral |
| Start date: | May 01, 2013 |
| End date: | October 12, 2015 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems |
| Principal Investigator: | Janete Aparecida Anselmo Franci |
| Grantee: | Arikawe Adesina Paul |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Odontologia de Ribeirão Preto (FORP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil |
Abstract Despite the prevalence of mood disorders in women, the vast majority of studies in animal models is developed in males. Women suffer much more affective disorders than men; the prevalence of depression in women is 21% and in men 13%. From birth to puberty the risk of depression is the same for girls and boys. Coinciding with the beginning of reproductive life, when there are monthly fluctuations in the concentrations of ovarian hormones, there is an increased prevalence of depression in women. This difference remains from puberty to perimenopause (transition from reproductive life to menopause) when the risk of depression is highest, and tend to disappear after menopause when the incidence of depression is again similar to man. In perimenopause there is also an increase in the level of distress in women, who respond more strongly to aversive stimuli, exhibit a higher degree of tension, strong mood swings, irritability, and feeling of be "out of control". Most studies that investigate menopause use the model of "surgical menopause" in which ovariectomy produces an abrupt decrease of sex hormones and is characterized by complete absence of ovarian tissue. The model of menopause induced by 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide of (VCD) mimics the transition to menopause in women as it shows a gradual decrease in the number of ovarian follicles and gradual increase in FSH secretion and retains residual ovarian tissue. Very little is known about fluctuations of ovarian steroids in this animal model, as well as about the endocrine and behavioral responses of animals to stress. In this study, these issues will be addressed in this experimental model of perimenopause. Experiments will be carried out to study, in rats in perimenopause, the profile of secretion of reproductive hormones in different phases of the estrous cycle as well as the stress responses and the density of β-endorphin fibers in the locus coeruleus, which are known to modulate these responses and to be influenced by ovarian steroids. (AU) | |
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