Estrogen Timeline (1889-1920)

Estrogen Timeline | Menopause | Osteoporosis | What is an Endocrinologist? | Find-an-Endocrinologist

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In the past century, medical advances have helped extend women's lives by more than 35 years. The average woman can now expect to live more than 80 years. Estrogen may play a role in maintaining health and well-being throughout these years. The isolation of estrogen in 1929 was the first of many steps in the development of today's oral contraceptives and hormone therapies. The following is a compilation of events that trace the evolution of estrogen in women's health.

1889 - 1920

1889
Charles Edouard Brown-Sequard, one of the first to be interested in replacement hormones and considered by some to be the father of endocrinology, reports reversal of his own symptoms of aging by the intravenous administration of testicular extracts. He suggests that ovarian extracts would have the same effect in women (1).

1897
The first report stating that ovarian extracts can be used to relieve postmenopausal vasomotor symptoms is issued (1).

1900
The life expectancy of American women is approximately 45 years (2).

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Soules et al. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1982;30:548

1906
F. Marshall and W. Jolly in England are the first to recognize that ovaries produce two substances, which are responsible for menstruation and implantation. They would later be called estrogen and progesterone (3).

1919
Ludwig Haberlandt, an Austrian physiologist, provides the first hint that an oral contraceptive (OC) is possible when he renders female deer infertile by injecting subcutaneous implants of ovaries from pregnant rabbits. Eight years later he achieves temporary sterility in mice with the oral administration of ovarian extracts (4).

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