Description
Estradiol Benzoate is a 6 hormone that is present in both males and females, and is the most important form of estrogen in humans. In women, it plays a key role in the development and functioning of the reproductive system, as well as in the growth of certain bones. It also governs the distribution of body fat in women and is the main hormone responsible for the fact that women are shorter than men, on average. Both the ovaries and the adrenal glands produce it.
 
The menstrual cycle in women involves predictable variations in the levels of several hormones, with estradiol being one of them. It is involved in the ovulation process and prepares the inner lining of the uterus for implantation, should the egg be fertilized. Certain tests done on baboons and other primates have indicated that his hormone also plays a continual role in maintaining a pregnancy, helping it to last for the full gestation period.
 
As a 6hormone, it also triggers many of the developments of the reproductive system that begin in puberty. It is present throughout the reproductive years, and declines during and after menopause. This decline is precisely what causes many of the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes and night sweats, vaginal dryness, and the loss of bone mass that may lead to osteoporosis.



Application
The effects of daily injections of 5 microgram estradiol benzoate (EB) on the patterns of food and ethanol consumption were studied in ovarectomized rats given free access to food, a 10% ethanol solution, and water. EB led to an immediate, but transient, suppression of both food and ethanol intake. The time course and magnitude of these effects were virtually identical. While the decrease in total food intake was achieved by a permanent decrease in the duration of eating bouts, the decline in total ethanol consumption apparently resulted from decreased rates of licking within bouts. Gradual increases in the frequency of eating and ethanol-drinking bouts allowed total food and ethanol intake to return to baseline within three weeks of the first injection. Total water intake rose three-fold during EB administration and this was due to increases in both the duration and frequency of drinking bouts. The similarity in effects induced by EB on the patterns of food and ethanol intake were discussed in terms of ethanol's caloric property.