Review, 2011
How do the hormones estrogen and progesterone affect the brain's activity, and could this explain PMS or PMDD?
Estrogen tends to make brain cells more excitable, while progesterone and a substance it breaks down into tend to calm them. This balance may help explain PMS and PMDD, but this is a summary of existing research, not a new experiment.
What they did
This is a review article summarizing existing research on how the hormones estrogen and progesterone affect brain cell activity.
What they found
Estrogen increases activity at a receptor (NMDA) linked to brain excitement, while progesterone and its byproduct allopregnanolone increase activity at a receptor (GABA) linked to calming the brain. The review suggests this balance between excitatory and calming effects may play a role in several conditions, including migraine, certain types of epilepsy, PMDD and PMS.
What it means for you
Hormone shifts across the cycle may change how excitable the brain is, which could help explain why some women get symptoms like PMS or PMDD. As a review, it does not provide new data or test any treatment, it only summarizes ideas from earlier research.
About the study
- Original title
- Female reproductive steroids and neuronal excitability
- Authors
- Finocchi C, Ferrari M
- Journal
- Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology
- Year
- 2011
- Study design
- Review
- What was tested
- None, this is a review article, no treatment tested
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1007/s10072-011-0532-5
Topics
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