Estrogen is essential for growth and development of the mammary glands and has been associated with the promotion and growth of breast cancer and in line with this, most human breast cancers are initially estrogen-dependent and undergo regression when deprived of their supporting hormone. Estrogen exerts many of its effects via two nuclear estrogen receptors (ERs), ERα and ERβ. The discovery of...

Both nerve growth factor (NGF) and estrogen have been shown to stimulate proliferation of various cell types. Human urothelial cells (HUC) express the alpha- and beta-subtypes of the estrogen receptor (ER(alpha) and ER(beta)) as well as tyrosine kinase A (trkA), the high-affinity receptor for NGF. We investigated interactions between estrogen and NGF relative to cell proliferation using primary...

background: microrna (mirna) is small endogenous, single strand rna molecules that regulate gene expression at post-transcriptional level through several mechanisms to affect key cellular event including male germ cells differentiation, proliferation, development and apoptosis. mutation and/or aberrant expression of mirnas have been associated with progression of various disorders, including in...

The presence of estrogen receptor beta and aromatase in the germ cell has highlighted the physiological role of the traditionally female hormone, estrogen, in spermatogenesis. Estrogen receptor alpha knockouts and aromatase knockouts have further accentuated the role of estrogen in germ cell maturation. To delineate the direct action of estrogen in the seminiferous epithelium, we studied the ef...

The objective of the study was to understand how estrogen modulates the rigidity of the cytoskeleton in epithelial cells. Estrogen depletion decreased, and treatment with 17beta-estradiol increased deformability of cervical-vaginal epithelial cells. Estrogen also induced redistribution of nonmuscle myosin II-B (NMM-II-B); lesser interaction of NMM-II-B with actin; increased phosphorylation of N...

The ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) is a sexually dimorphic region of the brain related to female reproductive behavior. The effect of estrogen in the adult rat VMH is thought to be mediated predominantly via estrogen receptor (ER)alpha, because this receptor is expressed at considerably higher levels than ER beta. The present study revealed, using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry...

OBJECTIVE To observe the effects of two main isoflavones, daidzein and genistein on the bone-nodule formation in rat calvaria osteoblasts in vitro. METHODS Osteoblasts obtained from newborn Sprague-dawley rat calvaria were cultured for several generations. The second generation cells were cultured in Minimum Essential Medium supplemented with ascorbic acid and Na-beta-glycerophosphate for sev...

Estrogen and mechanical forces are positive regulators for osteoblast proliferation and bone formation. We investigated the synergistic effect of estrogen and flow-induced shear stress on signal transduction and gene expression in human osetoblast-like MG63 cells and primary osteoblasts (HOBs) using activations of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kin...