Background: The major issue to address in endometriosis etiology is to identify the genetic changes in the disease and their occurrence in different populations. Uncovering these genetic changes may be important in developing potential biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of endometriosis. Among all endometriosis susceptibility genes studied before, convincing association has been found with variants in the estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) gene and this disease; however, the contributions of these genetic variants in different populations and ethnic groups are not similar. Accordingly, this study was carried out to replicate the previous findings to assess whether this polymorphism is associated with endometriosis in Iranian women.Methods: A case-control study was designed to determine the possible association between ESR1-351A>G variant and occurrence of endometriosis. The study group consisted of 100 subjects diagnosed with endometriosis as case group and 100 fertile women without endometriosis as controls recruited from subjects referred to the Tehran Women’s General Hospital between January to September 2013. All subjects were genotyped for this marker using amplification refractory mutation system- polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR). Association of risk allele (G) with endometriosis was assessed using PLINK software after age adjustment.Results: The results showed that the genotype frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) in both case (F=0.04, P: 0.67) and control (F=0.02, P: 0.83) groups.In addition, there were no significant differences between case and control groups in terms of genotype frequencies (P=0.17). Moreover, the results indicated that the presence of risk allele (G) did not significantly increase risk of endometriosis (OR: 1.43, 95%CI: 0.96-2.13, P=0.07).Conclusion: The results do not support the previous findings of an association between -351A>G genetic polymorphism in ESR1 gene and endometriosis. Therefore, comprehensive genetic approaches including linkage analyses and family-based tests, together with a number of replication studies with large sample size, are needed to make conclusive claims about the role of this genetic polymorphism in susceptibility to endometriosis.

Objective (s): The present study aims at examining the motor coordination performance, serum and cerebellar estrogen, as well as ERβ levels, of ovariectomized rats (as menopausal model) following regular exercise.Materials and Methods: Ten female Sprague Dawley rats aged 12 weeks old were randomly divided into two groups; all of which underwent ovariectomy. The first group was treated with regular exercise of moderate intensity, in which the rats were trained to run on a treadmill for 60 min per day for 12 weeks. The second group served as control. Rotarod test was carried out before and after exercise treatment. All rats were euthanized thereafter, and blood and cerebellums of the rats were collected. The serum and cerebellar estrogen as well as cerebellar ERβ levels were measured using ELISA assays.Results: The number of falls in the rotarod task of the exercise group was significantly lower than that of control group. The cerebellar estrogen level of the exercise group was significantly higher than that of control group. Accordingly, there was a significantly negative correlation between the number of falls and cerebellar estrogen level in the exercise group.Conclusion: The present study shows that a lengthy period of regular exercise improves the cerebellar estrogen level and motor coordination performance in ovariectomized rats.

Background/Objectives: To determine the effects of estrogen and estrogen plus progesterone on mammographic density in postmenopausal women.Patients and Methods: In a descriptive cohort study, baseline and 12-month mammograms were obtained from 97 healthy postmenopausal women, aged 45-55 years. Estrogen or combinedestrogen and progesterone replacement therapies were used for them. After one year, we classified breast density in the first and second mammograms according to Breast ImagingReporting and Data System (BIRADS) as patterns 1 (mostly fatty) through 4 (mostly dense tissue).Results: None of our cases had a decrease in density, while 35.1% showed an increased density. The results showed that an increase in mammographic density had no significant association with the type of prescribed hormone (P=0.77).In cases with no change in density, the parity was 3.51.86; while in the group with one-level rise, it was 4.241.84; and 5.21. 92 in the two-level rise group.Statistical analysis showed that changes in density had significant association with parity in our cases (P=0.015).Conclusion: HRT was associated with increases in mammographic density, suggesting that increasing mammographic density may be a marker of elevated breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women who use postmenopausal hormone replacement therapies. However, the link between changes in breast density resulting from hormone use and the change in breast cancer risk remains uncertain.