Motherhood permanently alters the brain and its response to hormone therapy later in life

(Canadian Association for Neuroscience) Research by Liisa Galea, University of British Columbia, suggests the form of estrogens used in Hormone Therapy (HT) and previous motherhood are critical to explain why HT has variable effects on cognitive functions. Estradiol had beneficial effects while estrone did not. Furthermore, the effects of estrone also depended on the experience of motherhood: estrone-based HT impaired learning in middle-aged rats that were mothers, while it improved learning in ...