The capacity of the ovarian hormone 17beta-estradiol to prevent neurodegeneration has been characterized in several animal models of brain and spinal cord pathology. However, the potential reparative activity of the hormone under chronic neurodegenerative conditions has received less attention. In this study we have assessed the effect of estradiol therapy in adulthood on chronic glial and neuronal alterations caused by perinatal asphyxia (PA) in rats. Four-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats submitted to PA just after delivery, and their control littermates, were injected for 3 consecutive days with 17beta estradiol or vehicle. Animals subjected to PA and treated with vehicle showed an increased astrogliosis, focal swelling and fragmented appearance of MAP-2 immunoreactive dendrites, decreased MAP-2 immunoreactivity and decreased phosphorylation of high and medium molecular weight neurofilaments in the hippocampus, compared to control animals. Estradiol therapy reversed these alterations. These findings indicate that estradiol is able to reduce, in adult animals, chronic reactive astrogliosis and neuronal alterations caused by an early developmental neurodegenerative event, suggesting that the hormone might induce reparative actions in the Central Nervous System (CNS).
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