Date of Award
Fall 2025
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Biomedical Science
First Advisor
Reilly Enos
Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation was to assess the impact of estrogen action on adipose and hepatic tissue metabolism in high-fat diet fed mice as well as characterize the fluctuation of sex steroids throughout the estrus cycle in mice. Specifically, our work focused on three key aims. 1) Investigating the role of adipose tissue estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) in regulating metabolic effects of estrogen in the context of obesity in mice, 2) investigating the role of hepatic ERα in regulating metabolic effects of estrogen in the context of obesity in mice, 3) investigate the peripheral tissue sex steroid concentrations mimic serum concentrations throughout the murine estrus cycle. The findings from these studies show that the impact of estrogen signaling through ERα has diet, sex and tissue dependent effects in providing a physiological benefit. Showing that there is therapeutic potential in enhanced ERα signaling in a high-fat-diet context. The fluctuations of sex hormones throughout the female mouse estrus cycle provided findings on which stage in the cycle provided the highest concentration of a hormone both in serum and in tissues and showed in the ovariectomized context that the adrenal glands are the primary producer of 17beta-estradiol (E2) in mice. It is important to state that further studies are required to assess the efficacy of tissue specific overexpression of ERα as a therapy, as well as identify the specific mechanisms that ERα is working through to elicit protective metabolic and physiological effects.
Rights
© 2025, Marion Cone Hope III
Recommended Citation
Hope, M. C.(2025). Estrus Cycle Steroid Fluctuations and Estrogen Receptor Alpha Overexpression: Metabolic Impacts on Obesity. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/8701