A key research initiative of the WHIN is the development of a program project grant. The basic premise of the Program Project grant is that brain health is dependent on the vascular, immune and endocrine systems (see diagram). Therefore, we have developed a set of research projects that will examine each of these systems in an animal model of menopause.

These studies are designed to (a) understand how menopause changes the endocrine, vascular and immune systems and (b) to develop treatments that will maintain the health of these systems, with few side effects. Four projects are proposed and they are as follows:

Reproductive age and hormone effects on stroke injury

Researcher: Farida Sohrabji, Ph.D.
This project will seek to understand if the risk for brain damage after stroke increases in older females, and whether estrogen replacement is beneficial or harmful.

Hormone effects on Theiler’s virus-induced demyelinating disease (Multiple Sclerosis)

Researcher: C. Jane Welsh, Ph.D.
This project will examine whether autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis which predominantly affects women, is more severe in older women and whether estrogen replacement will affect the severity of the disease.

Reproductive age and hormone effects on cerebrovascular reactivity

Researcher: John N. Stallone, Ph.D.
This project will determine if the major brain blood vessels to the brain are affected by age in females and the effects of specific estrogen receptor compounds on these vessels.

Reproductive age and hormone effects on neuronal physiology

Researcher: William Griffith, Ph.D. and Jennifer Bizon, Ph.D.
This project will determine if the function of basal forebrain neurons, which are important for learning and memory, is affected in older acyclic females, and if estrogen replacement modulates the function of these brain cells.