Effects of separate and combined estradiol and progesterone administration on fear extinction in healthy pre-menopausal women.
Journal
Translational psychiatry
ISSN: 2158-3188
Titre abrégé: Transl Psychiatry
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101562664
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
24 Oct 2024
24 Oct 2024
Historique:
received:
22
12
2023
accepted:
28
08
2024
revised:
21
08
2024
medline:
25
10
2024
pubmed:
25
10
2024
entrez:
25
10
2024
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Altered fear conditioning and extinction learning are discussed as key etiological features in anxiety disorders. Women have an increased risk for anxiety disorders and fear conditioning has been shown to be influenced by the menstrual cycle phase and circulating gonadal hormones. The objective of our study was to investigate the effects of separate and combined estradiol and progesterone administration on fear extinction in healthy women. We conducted a placebo-controlled, randomized study in healthy women, who completed a fear conditioning paradigm on three consecutive days: fear acquisition training on day 1, fear extinction training on day 2, and return of fear test on day 3. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) served as main outcome variable. Two hours before testing on day 2, participants received pills containing either placebo, estradiol (2 mg), progesterone (400 mg) or the combination of both. We examined 116 women (mean age 25.7 ± 6.0 years), who showed significantly stronger conditioned SCRs to the CS+ than CS- during fear acquisition training indicating successful fear learning. At the beginning of the fear extinction training, estradiol administration reduced the differentiation between the conditioned stimuli. In the return of fear test, the estradiol groups showed heightened SCR responses to the previously extinguished stimulus, i.e., impaired extinction recall. Administration of progesterone did not have any significant influence on SCRs. There were also no effects on fear potentiated startle response. In our interpretation, exogenous estradiol administration affected the extinction of the conditioned fear response which led subsequently to a stronger return of fear. From a clinical perspective our findings suggest that estradiol levels may have an influence on the success of exposure therapy and could be taken into consideration when planning exposure sessions.
Identifiants
pubmed: 39448569
doi: 10.1038/s41398-024-03079-4
pii: 10.1038/s41398-024-03079-4
doi:
Substances chimiques
Progesterone
4G7DS2Q64Y
Estradiol
4TI98Z838E
Types de publication
Journal Article
Randomized Controlled Trial
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
449Informations de copyright
© 2024. The Author(s).
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