Lab study, 1997
Does depression get worse during certain parts of the menstrual cycle?
Depression-like behavior was stronger during the part of the cycle when progesterone is absent, and stress made this worse. This might help explain why women with depression feel worse during the premenstrual phase.
What they did
Researchers tested depression-like behavior in female rats at different points in their estrous cycle using a swimming test. Some rats were exposed to stress (inescapable shocks) while others were not.
What they found
Rats showed more depression-like behavior during the low-progesterone phase (diestrus) compared to the high-estrogen phase (estrus). Stress increased this depression-like behavior, but only during diestrus when progesterone was absent. The difference between the two cycle phases became more pronounced with stress.
What it means for you
The timing of the menstrual cycle seems to affect how depression shows up in this animal model, particularly during the phase when progesterone is low. This is animal research, so it's unclear whether the same pattern occurs in humans with depression and PMS.
About the study
- Original title
- Inescapable shocks accentuate fluctuations of forced swimming immobility in different phases of the rat estrous cycle
- Authors
- Marván ML, Santana S, Chávez Chávez L et al.
- Journal
- Archives of medical research
- Year
- 1997
- Study design
- Lab study
- What was tested
- Inescapable shock stress exposure
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9291632/
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