[Estrogen receptor alpha in obesity and diabetes]

Estradiol (E2) is an important hormone in reproductive physiology, cardiovascular, skeletal and in the central nervous system (CNS). In human and rodents, E2 and its receptors are involved in the control of energy and glucose metabolism in health and metabolic diseases. The estrogen receptor (ER) belongs to the superfamily of nuclear receptors (NR), which are transcription factors that regulate gene expression. Three ER, ER-alpha, ER-beta and the G protein-coupled ER (GPER; also called GPR30) in tissues are involved in glucose and lipid homeostasis. Also, it may have important implications for risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome (MS), insulin resistance (IR), obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D).