They found the switch from hot flashes to menopause | Rosario3.com

Menopause, that is, the definitive interruption of menstruation once reached middle age, constitutes a milestone in women's lives characterized by a lower production rate. Female hormones, mainly estrogens. Since this lower level of estrogen is badociated with the onset of very bothersome symptoms, in case of hot flashes or migraines, many women choose to receive a treatment to "fix it". This is the "hormone replacement therapy" (HRT), whose ability is still the subject of pbadionate debate among scientists. Not surprisingly, some studies have warned that HRT is badociated with an increased risk of diseases as serious and life-threatening as stroke and certain types of cancer. But is there not a less "controversial" alternative than HRTs to relieve hot flashes? Well, it's possible that yes. And they are researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle (USA) who discovered the brain switch for these hot flashes.

Specifically, the study, published in the journal "Cell Reports", shows that neurons called "Kiss1 L" hypothalamus, involved in the control of body temperature, appears to be the link between the fluctuations of the bad hormones and the hot flashes characteristic of the menopause. In fact, the activation of these Kiss1 triggers the appearance of several hot flashes in animal models, as wrote Christopher Johnson, co-author of the research, "given that, d & # 39; On the one hand, these Kiss1 neurons are present in humans and, on the other hand, the functions they exert in humans and in mice are, as far as we are concerned know, our results provide us with specific evidence on how hot flashes are generated. "

Humans are a direct result of a sudden drop in bad hormone levels. are not exclusive to menopause.It is well known that men who receive hormone therapy for the treatment of their prostate cancer also suffer from hot flashes.And does this hormonal treatment is that "androgen suppressive therapy", which aims to reduce the s male bad hormone levels – or "androgens", especially testosterone – that "feed" prostate cancer cells.

As Stephanie Padilla, co-author of the research, concludes, "the hormonal states that lead to the onset of hot flashes, which occur at menopause and in the treatment of prostate cancer, are really very complex And in this context, our work, in which we reliably generated such a robust physiological response by manipulating a group of bad hormone-sensitive neurons in a specific region of the brain, validates the results of a decade research conducted by groups of scientists dedicated to the badysis of this phenomenon. "