Biogerontology and Translational Health Research – Eija Laakkonen's research group

The Novo Nordisk Foundation granted DKK 2.999.964 for Associate Professor Eija Laakkonen to explore the impact of menopause-associated hormonal changes on human adipose tissue and metabolic health in vivo and in adipose tissue organoids. The study will be conducted in collaboration with Dr Elvira Weber (Department of Cardiac Surgery, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany), and will be launched in January 2025. 

The study aims to understand how ovarian hormones and their loss due to menopausal loss of ovarian function affect adipose tissue and metabolic health. We will use surgical menopause, i.e., ovarian removal surgery (oophorectomy), as a clinical human in vivo model for the loss of ovarian function, and three-dimensional adipose organoids (adipoids) derived from human cardiac fat and abdominal subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral fat (VAT) as a platform for mechanistic studies.

3/2024: Snacking and emotional eating were associated with sleeping problems, but menopause was not.

Sleep is important for both physical and mental health. Sleep difficulties seem to increase during menopause. This may be a consequence of the hormonal changes of menopause, but also lifestyle habits may be connected to sleep.

There is conflicting research data on whether menopause causes sleep problems or whether they are more common at different stages of menopause. On the other hand, the connection between eating behaviour and sleep quality during menopause has not been studied.

— Since the female sex hormone estrogen is involved in regulating the feeling of satiety, there may be changes in eating behaviour during menopause, which could also be reflected in sleep behaviour, describes Hannamari Lankila, PhD researcher working on the project.

The participants of the study represented three menopausal groups: premenopausal, in menopausal transition, and postmenopausal. More than 20% of women felt that their sleep quality was bad or rather bad. The group that passed the menopause slept worse compared to the other groups. Menopausal status was not related to sleep when several other factors affecting sleep were taken into account in the analysis, including eating behaviour.

— Based on the results, snacking and emotional eating were connected to the fact that the length of women's sleep at night was shorter and they felt tired during the day, says Lankila.

Read the whole publication: Lankila H, Kuutti MA, Kekäläinen T, Hietavala EM & Laakkonen EK. Associations of menopausal status and eating behaviour with subjective measures of sleep. Journal of Sleep Research 2024 Jan 13. doi: 10.1111/jsr.14155. Linkki julkaisuun: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsr.14155

2/2023: Regular high-intensity physical activity in early adulthood may increase the risk of urinary and fecal incontinence in middle-aged women

The prevalence of pelvic floor disorders increases as women approach menopausal years.

– Physical activity has many health benefits, however, its benefits relative to the functional ability of pelvic floor have been challenged, says doctoral researcher Mari Kuutti. While exercise strengthens pelvic floor muscles, it may also overload and stretch the muscles.

Middle-aged women with early adulthood history of competitive sports were more likely to experience symptoms of urge urinary incontinence but not symptoms of stress urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, constipation or defecation difficulties, or pelvic organ prolapse. In addition, women with history of regular physical activity were more likely to experience symptoms of fecal incontinence but no other symptoms of pelvic floor disorders.

To inspect the complete research paper published in the BJOG click this link.

2/2023: Estrogen deficiency affects systemic signaling in response to exercise

Menopause is associated with unfavorable changes in health. Our previous studies have revealed that although physical activity helps maintain healthier body composition, even a relatively high level of physical activity does not diminish the negative changes in health caused by menopause.

– Exercise typically causes clear changes in the amount of micro-RNA molecules in the blood. Based on our new results, the estrogen level affects exercise-induced signaling in EV and HDL particles and can affect the metabolism of postmenopausal women during exercise via micro-RNA molecules, says Academy of Finland postdoctoral researcher and the principal investigator of the ErROR study Sira Karvinen.

This study was first to investigate how estrogen deficiency affects the systemic response to exercise.

– A significant new discovery was that the use of hormone replacement therapy affected the body's non-coding RNA -mediated communication. It is a subject of further research whether the observed microRNA-level unresponsiveness to exercise in estrogen deficient women has wider health effects, the principal investigator of the EsmiRs study, associate professor Eija Laakkonen concludes.

To inspect the complete research paper published in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles click this link.

The compliant artery wall is a prerequisite for the normal functioning of the arteries and the entire circulatory system. The elasticity of the arteries is gradually reduced by ageing. However, various risk factors for cardiovascular diseases may accelerate arterial aging and predispose arterial stiffening since childhood. Increased arterial stiffness predicts the development of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular disease.

The study examined the importance of aerobic fitness, body fat percentage, muscle mass, and blood pressure for arterial stiffness in women aged 16 to 58. Based on the results, only higher muscle mass and lower blood pressure were associated with lower arterial stiffness regardless of age. Better aerobic fitness and lower body fat percentage were also linked to better arterial health, but age explained these associations.

– While age was the most important factor in explaining arterial stiffness, maintaining sufficient muscle mass and controlling blood pressure may protect against the adverse effects of ageing on arterial health, says Dr. Eero Haapala from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä.

The study included 146 women aged 16 to 58 years. Maximum oxygen uptake as a measure of durability was measured using a maximum cycle ergometer or treadmill test. We measured body composition with InBody or DXA device and arterial stiffness by pulse wave velocity analysis.

To read more about the study click here. You may also inspect the research paper published in the Scientific Reports behind this link. 

Research Professor Nabila Bouatia-Naji and Dr. Takiy Berrandou, Inserm, Paris Cardiovascular Research Center, Paris, France, 2025 (a week).
PhD researcher Tero Sievänen, 2019–2024, PhD thesis: The associations of circulating microRNAs and lifestyle habits with cancer risk in Lynch syndrome
Dr. Satu Lehti, 9/2020–8/2024
Marie Curie researcher, Dr Tiina Jokela, 3/2021–3/2024
PhD researcher Matti Hyvärinen, 2017–2024, PhD thesis: Physical Activity, Menopausal Symptoms, and Cardiometabolic Health during the Menopausal Transition
PhD researcher Hanna-Kaarina Juppi, 2017–2023, PhD thesis: Associations of the Menopausal Transition with Body Composition: Examining the Influence of Hormonal Changes, Muscle RNA Signaling and Lifestyle Habits
PhD researcher Jari Karppinen, 2018–2023, PhD thesis: Menopause, Physical Activity, and Whole-Body Metabolism with an Emphasis on Resting Energy Expenditure, Fat Oxidation, and Serum Metabolome
Professori Satoshi Fujita, Ritsumeikan University, Japan (2 months, 2022 and a week, 2017)
Postdoctoral researcher Sira Karvinen, 11/2017–6/2022
Project researcher Eeva-Maija Palonen, 2015–2018
Dr. Gengyun Le, University of Minneapolis, US (two weeks, 2018)
Matthew Jergenson, University of Minneapolis, US (six weeks, 2018)
Dr.  Koji Sato, Kobe University, Japan (one week, 2017)