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Estradiol levels modulate brain activity and negative responses to psychosocial stress across the menstrual cycle.

ABSTRACT: Although ovarian hormones are thought to have a potential role in the well-known sex difference in mood and anxiety disorders, the mechanisms through which ovarian hormone changes contribute to stress regulation are not well understood. One mechanism by which ovarian hormones might impact mood regulation is by mediating the effect of psychosocial stress, which often precedes depressive episodes and may have mood consequences that are particularly relevant in women. In the current study, brain activity and mood response to psychosocial stress was examined in healthy, normally cycling women at either the high or low estradiol phase of the menstrual cycle. Twenty eight women were exposed to the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST), with brain activity determined through functional magnetic resonance imaging, and behavioral response assessed with subjective mood and stress measures. Brain activity responses to psychosocial stress differed between women in the low versus high estrogen phase of the menstrual cycle: women with high estradiol levels showed significantly less deactivation in limbic regions during psychosocial stress compared to women with low estradiol levels. Additionally, women with higher estradiol levels also had less subjective distress in response to the MIST than women with lower estradiol levels. The results of this study suggest that, in normally cycling premenopausal women, high estradiol levels attenuate the brain activation changes and negative mood response to psychosocial stress. Normal ovarian hormone fluctuations may alter the impact of psychosocially stressful events by presenting periods of increased vulnerability to psychosocial stress during low estradiol phases of the menstrual cycle. This menstrual cycle-related fluctuation in stress vulnerability may be relevant to the greater risk for affective disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder in women.

SUBMITTER: Albert K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4492530 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Estradiol levels modulate brain activity and negative responses to psychosocial stress across the menstrual cycle.

Albert Kimberly K Pruessner Jens J Newhouse Paul P

Psychoneuroendocrinology 20150507

Although ovarian hormones are thought to have a potential role in the well-known sex difference in mood and anxiety disorders, the mechanisms through which ovarian hormone changes contribute to stress regulation are not well understood. One mechanism by which ovarian hormones might impact mood regulation is by mediating the effect of psychosocial stress, which often precedes depressive episodes and may have mood consequences that are particularly relevant in women. In the current study, brain ac ...[more]

PMID: 26123902

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Project description:Background and Objectives: Urinary hormone home monitoring assays are now available for fertility awareness methods (FAMs) of family planning, but lack sensitivity and precision in establishing the start of the fertile phase. We hypothesized that with a suitable algorithm, daily serum or blood estradiol (E2) levels could serve as a better analyte to determine the phase of the ovulatory cycle and the fertile start day (FSD). Materials and Methods: Published day-specific serum E2 levels, indexed to the serum luteinizing hormone (LH) peak, were analyzed from three independent laboratories for a threshold for a FSD. A fertility indicator quation (FIE) was discovered and tested with these data and a FSD was determined using the mean or median and variance ranges of the day-specific E2 data. Results: The considerable variance of day-specific serum E2 levels made an absolute serum E2 indicator for phase of cycle problematic. However, a FIE was discovered which maps the day-specific E2 levels of the ovulatory cycle enabling the fertile phase and transition to the luteal phase to be signaled. In this equation, FIE(D) is the value of FIE on day, D, of the cycle and has both a magnitude and sign. The magnitude of FIE(D) is the product of the normalized change in day-specific E2 levels over two consecutive intervals, (D-2, D-1) and (D-1, D), multiplied by 100, and is formulated as: (E2 (on D-1) - E2 (on D-2))/E2 (on D-2) × (E2(on D) - E2 (on D-1))/E2 (on D-1) × 100. The sign of FIE(D) is either + or - or ind (indeterminate) and is assigned on the basis of the direction of this product. Using a FIE threshold of ≥2.5 as the start of the fertile phase, the FSDs were Day -5 or Day -6, with FSD Day -4 for an outlier set of E2 levels. The maximum FIE value ranged 9.5-27.8 and occurred most often on Day -2. An inflection point with a large change in FIE magnitude and change in sign from + to - always occurred at Day 0 for all sets of day-specific E2 data signaling transition to the luteal phase. Conclusions: The fertility indicator equation, a product of two sequential normalized changes in serum E2 levels with a sign indicating confidence in direction of change, is powerful in identifying the fertile phase and subsequent transition to the postovulatory phase and may serve as a useful algorithm for FAMs of family planning.

Dataset Information

Estradiol levels modulate brain activity and negative responses to psychosocial stress across the menstrual cycle.

Publications

Estradiol levels modulate brain activity and negative responses to psychosocial stress across the menstrual cycle.

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