Factors associated with estrogen receptors-alpha (ER-alpha) and -beta (ER-beta) and progesterone receptor abundance in obese and non obese pre- and post-menopausal women.

There is scarce information about the factors associated with estrogen receptors (ER) at menopause. In 113 volunteers pre- and post-menopausal healthy women, grouped as with and without obesity, estrogen receptors-alpha and -beta, and progesterone receptor (PR) were measured by immunohistochemistry in skin punch biopsies obtained from the external gluteal area. In pre-menopausal women, biopsies and a blood sample were performed between days 7 and 14 of the cycle. Serum hormone levels were measured by immunoradiometric assay or radioimmunoassay. After menopause, ER and PR amounts decreased significantly. At pre-menopause, obese women had lower PR levels than non obese (P<.006). In the post-menopausal group, obese women showed higher ER-alpha (P<.03) and ER-beta (P<.02) levels than the non obese group. In the analysis of factors associated with the amount of steroid receptors for the total group, log[ER-alpha], log[ER-beta], and log[PR] were associated with age (P<.002, <.005, and <.004, respectively). The log[ER-alpha] was also associated with log[FSH] (P<.0008); meanwhile, the log[PR] showed a marginal correlation with log[FSH]. In pre-menopausal women no factor associated with any of the three receptors was found. In post-menopausal women log[ER-alpha] was associated with log[estrone] and log[DHEAS] (P<.003 and <.02, respectively). log[PR] was associated with BMI (P<.002), years since menopause (P<.05), and log[DHEAS] (P<.003). We concluded that ER and PR diminish sharply at post-menopause. At this stage the amount of receptors depends on several factors such as BMI, years since menopause, and androgen precursors.

Hormone and metabolic factors associated with leptin mRNA expression in pre- and postmenopausal women.

Recent information has extended leptin's action, beyond the control of appetite, to various sites of metabolic regulation. To better understand leptin's role we studied its production in subcutaneous and visceral fat compartments before and after menopause. During elective abdominal surgery, biopsies of subcutaneous and omental tissues were taken from 20 women at pre- (BMI 28.4 +/- 4.5 kg/m2) and 10 at postmenopause (BMI 30.6 +/- 7.7 kg/m2). In both groups serum leptin levels were similar, and highly correlated with BMI. In subcutaneous adipose tissue, leptin mRNA expression was significantly higher in pre- than in postmenopausal women (50.4 +/- 20.5 amol/microg total RNA versus 34.5 +/- 24.9 amol/microg total RNA, respectively). Leptin mRNA expression in subcutaneous tissue was independently correlated with fasting glucose (R = 0.89, P < 0.006) at premenopause, and with serum estradiol (R = 0.77, P < 0.04) at postmenopause. Leptin mRNA expression in visceral fat was correlated with DHEAS (R = 0.86, P < 0.001), at premenopause. These results indicate that in both compartments, leptin production is sensitive to different but overlapping stimuli, conveying information about energy availability to central and peripheral sites under different conditions of estrogen exposure.

Effect of alendronate on periodontal disease in postmenopausal women: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: We investigated the effect of oral alendronate (ALN) treatment on radiological and clinical measurements of periodontal disease in postmenopausal women without hormone replacement therapy. METHODS: We evaluated the effect of 6 months of ALN treatment in 40 postmenopausal women, 55 to 65 years old with established periodontal disease, in a controlled, double-masked, prospective study. Volunteers were paired by age and randomized to receive ALN (10 mg/day) or placebo for the study period. Periodontal mechanical treatment was carried out in both groups. At baseline and after treatment, clinical evaluation, hormone blood levels, distance from the crestal alveolar bone (CAB) to the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ), calcaneus bone mineral density (BMD), hormone levels, serum N-telopeptide (NTx), and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP) were assessed. RESULTS: Periodontal disease conditions improved in both groups, but greater improvement in probing depth (-0.8 +/- 0.3 mm versus -0.4 +/- 0.4 mm, P = 0.02) and gingival bleeding (-0.3% +/- 0.13% versus -0.2% +/- 0.06%, P = 0.006) was found in the ALN treated group. Calcaneus BMD increased in the ALN treated group (68 +/- 47 mm3 versus -26 +/- 81 mm3, P = 0.0006). CAB-CEJ distance diminished in the ALN group (-0.4 +/- 0.40 mm versus 0.60 +/- 0.53 mm, P = 0.00008). Marginal reduction in both NTx and BSAP levels was found in the ALN group (-9.4 +/- 6.6 nmol versus -4.3 +/- 4.7 nmol bone collagen equivalents, P = 0.08, and -7.7 +/- 8.4 versus -1.5 +/- 5.0 U/l, P = 0.1, respectively). Hormone levels were unchanged after treatment. Similar improvement of calcaneus BMD and CAB-CEJ distance with ALN treatment was found in obese and non-obese women. CONCLUSION: ALN treatment improved periodontal disease and bone turnover in postmenopausal women.

Protective effect of DRB1 locus against type 2 diabetes mellitus in Mexican Mestizos.

The aim of the study was to investigate the participation of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II alleles in the expression of type 2 diabetic and in nondiabetic subjects with and without family history of diabetes. The purpose was to evaluate any HLA association and to look for different patterns of insulin resistance and insulin secretion, comparing subjects with a low probability of developing diabetes, as a result of their family history. We recruited 87 healthy subjects without family history of diabetes, 48 healthy subjects with family history, and 47 type 2 diabetic patients. All of them were Mexican Mestizos of central Mexico. Using a standard 75-g oral glucose tolerance test, insulin resistance was determined and insulin secretion was assessed with the HOMA model. DRB1, DQA1 and DQB1 alleles were typed using polymerase chain reaction-sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe (PCR-SSOP) and sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP). Nondiabetic subjects had similar HOMA-IR and DeltaI 30/DeltaG 30 index (HOMA). A significant decreased frequency of DRB1*0403 (p = 0.01; odds ratio [OR] = 0.20) was demonstrated in type 2 diabetic patients, and DRB1*0701 (p = 0.02; OR = 0.17) in nondiabetics with family history of diabetes. These alleles associated with protection against type 2 diabetes, share glutamic acid at position-74 and were previously demonstrated to contribute to protection against type I diabetes.