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Ovarian and Steroidal Influences on Neuroendocrine Aging Processes in Female Rodents^*

CALEB E. FINCH, LEDA S. FELICIO, CHARLES V. MOBBS and JAMES F. NELSON

Department of Biological Sciences and Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191
Center for the Study of Reproduction, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A1, Canada
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A1, Canada
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty of Medicine, McGill University Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A1, Canada

Correspondence: Address correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Caleb E. Finch, Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, University Park MC 0191, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191.

Abstract

SOME MAMMALIAN aging processes involve effects of steroids on the brain and pituitary. An ovarydependent, neuroendocrine aging syndrome of laboratory rats and mice is described in this article. This syndrome can be attenuated during aging by chronic ovariectomy and can be prematurely induced in young rodents by sustained exposure to estradiol (E₂). The limited follicular stock in the ovary is proposed to be a major pacemaker of aging in this neuroendocrine syndrome; ovarian aging may interact with neuroendocrine aging. Ovary-independent neuroendocrine changes occur as well. We also discuss developmental influences on adult aging in rodents and other examples in which adult lower mammals are sensitive to long lasting effects of steroids on the brain and pituitary. Possible molecular mechanisms are considered. In view of the long lasting effects of E₂ and other steroids on lower mammals, the potential for long term effects of ovarian steroids on the human brain and pituitary warrants continued evaluation.

Footnotes

^* Supported by grants to C.E.F. from the National Institute on Aging, the National Science Foundation, the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, Sandoz (Basel), the Orentreich Foundation for the Advancement of Science; and grants to J.F.N. and L.S.F. from the Medical Research Council of Canada.

Present address: The Rockefeller University, New York City, NY 10021.

Dr. Nelson is a Medical Research Council of Canada Scholar and was supported by an Eli Lilly Predoctoral Fellowship.

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