Menopause is a universal female experience, and is defined as cessation of menstruation for at least 12 months during the midlife period. According to the World Health Organization, by the year 2030, there will be more than 60 million postmenopausal women in the United States and 1.2 billion postmenopausal women worldwide. For many years, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been the gold standard for the symptomatic treatment of menopause. However, in light of the results of the Women's Health Initiative, many women are searching for alternative treatments for menopause. While, botanicals such as black cohosh, red clover and soy appear to be promising alternative therapies, recently questions of safety and efficacy have arisen. Thus, it is extremely important to focus on the research and development of other treatment alternatives for menopause. In Central American countries, specifically Guatemala and Costa Rica, women have menopausal symptoms similar to their U.S. counterparts. However, these women do not seek Western medical treatment, but use natural methods including herbal medicines to improve the quality of life in the peri- and postmenopausal periods. Hypothesis: Specific botanical extracts that have been used traditionally in Central America for the treatment menopausal symptoms will have biological activities that correspond with their traditional use. Thus, these extracts can be standardized for use in animal or human studies. Our preliminary work has indicated that there are at least twelve plant species that have been used traditionally, both in Guatemala and Costa Rica, for menopause. The objective of this investigation is to collect and extract these plant species from both countries, and test the extracts for activity in specific bioassays that are relevant to menopause. The overall goal of the proposed work is to develop standardized botanical extracts, based on the bioassay results, for the symptomatic treatment of menopause. The standardized extracts would then be used as the basis of an R01 application to assess biological activity in an animal model and or pilot human study. Successful validation and standardization of traditional plant-based medicines used to treat menopause has great significance not only for the women of Central America but the rest of the world as well. ? ?
