Endocrine Abstracts

Biological sex is one of nature’s most robust variables. We are leveraging sex differences to discover how hormone-responsive nodes in the brain and peripheral tissues maintain metabolic, skeletal, and cognitive health using the mouse as our model system. Findings from our research program are highly relevant to women’s health during estrogen-depleted states that include natural or drug-induced menopause commonly associated with anti-hormone breast cancer therapies. Currently, we are focused on estrogen-responsive neurons in the hypothalamus to understand how estrogen and melanocortin signaling via MC4R become integrated to drive spontaneous activity (Krause et al., 2021). We are also actively searching for a brain-derived osteoanabolic factor that can strengthen bone density and strength in older female mice. This is based on our findings that loss of estrogen signaling in hypothalamic neurons profoundly increases bone mass in female mice (Herber, Krause, et al., 2019). Defining the basic mechanisms that mediate this female-specific brain-bone communication may open up new therapeutic space for treating women suffering from osteoporosis.