Abbott published in Journal of the Endocrine Society

A new article by David Abbott, PhD, of the UW Ob-Gyn Division of Reproductive Science was published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society! Abbott is senior author on the article; co-authors include Marissa Kraynak, Molly Willging, Alex Kuehlmann, Amita Kapoor, Matthew Flowers, Ricki Colman, and Jon Levine.

In “Aromatase Inhibition Eliminates Sexual Receptivity Without Enhancing Weight Gain in Ovariectomized Marmoset Monkeys”, Abbott and co-authors share a brand-new finding for female primates and likely women: estradiol in the female brain (hypothalamus) plays a key additional role to ovarian estradiol in maintaining female sexual behavior and hypothalamic-pituitary regulation of ovarian function, but contributes little to weight regulation or metabolic function.

As shared in the study, the brain levels of estradiol appear independent of those in circulation (provided mostly by the ovaries). Thus sexual and ovarian dysfunction can be caused by low brain estradiol levels that cannot be detected by sampling from blood. Such issues may also be alleviated by delivery of estradiol to the brain alone without delivery to the rest of the body: preclinical trials of such a pharmaceutical delivery system for estradiol are underway in marmoset monkeys.

Read the whole study here!