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Role of ovarian hormones in the regulation of protein metabolism in women: effects of menopausal status and hormone replacement therapy

Departments of Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont

Submitted 22 April 2006 ; accepted in final form 4 May 2006

The age-related decline in fat-free mass is accelerated in women after menopause, implying that ovarian hormone deficiency may have catabolic effects on lean tissue. Because fat-free tissue mass is largely determined by its protein content, alterations in ovarian hormones would likely exert regulatory control through effects on protein balance. To address the hypothesis that ovarian hormones regulate protein metabolism, we examined the effect of menopausal status and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on protein turnover. Whole body protein breakdown, oxidation, and synthesis were measured under postabsorptive conditions using [¹³C]leucine in healthy premenopausal (n = 15, 49 ± 1 yr) and postmenopausal (n = 18, 53 ± 1 yr) women. In postmenopausal women, whole body protein turnover and plasma albumin synthesis rates (assessed using [¹³C]leucine and [²H]phenylalanine) were also measured following 2 mo of treatment with oral HRT (0.625 mg conjugated estrogens + 2.5 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate, n = 9) or placebo (n = 9). No differences in whole body protein breakdown, oxidation, or synthesis were found between premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Protein metabolism remained similar between groups after statistical adjustment for differences in adiposity and when subgroups of women matched for percent body fat were compared. In postmenopausal women, no effect of HRT was found on whole body protein breakdown, synthesis, or oxidation. In contrast, our results support a stimulatory effect of HRT on albumin fractional synthesis rate, although this did not translate into alterations in circulating albumin concentrations. In conclusion, our results suggest no detrimental effect of ovarian hormone deficiency coincident with the postmenopausal state, and no salutary effect of hormone repletion with HRT, on rates of whole body protein turnover, although oral HRT regimens may increase the synthesis rates of albumin.

menopause; estrogen; progesterone; fat-free mass; sarcopenia