Hormonal Cycle Modulates Arousal Circuitry in Women Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Open accessAbstract
Sex-specific behaviors are in part based on hormonal regulation of brain physiology. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study demonstrated significant differences in activation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) circuitry in adult women with attenuation during ovulation and increased activation during early follicular phase. Twelve normal premenopausal women were scanned twice during the early follicular menstrual cycle phase compared with late follicular/midcycle, using negative valence/high arousal versus neutral visual stimuli, validated by concomitant electrodermal activity (EDA). Significantly greater magnitude of blood oxygenation level-dependent signal changes were found during early follicular compared with midcycle timing in central amygdala, paraventricular and ventromedial hypothalamic nuclei, hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), anterior cingulate gyrus (aCING), and peripeduncular nucleus of the brainstem, a network of regions implicated in the stress response. Arousal (EDA) correlated positively with brain activity in amygdala, OFC, and aCING during midcycle but not in early follicular, suggesting less cortical control of amygdala during early follicular, when arousal was increased. This is the first evidence suggesting that estrogen may likely attenuate arousal in women via cortical-subcortical control within HPA circuitry. Findings have important implications for normal sex-specific physiological functioning and may contribute to understanding higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders in women and differential sensitivity to trauma than men.
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Phase in the menstrual cycle has important effects on emotional responding.
“Third, phase in menstrual cycle has been shown to have important effects on emotional responding (Amin, Epperson, Constable, & Canli, 2006; Goldstein et al., 2005; Pearson & Lewis, 2005; Protopopescu et al., 2005).”
From Gender Differences in Emotion Regulation: An fMRI Study of Cognitive Reappraisal (2008) · cites this paper as Goldstein et al., 2005
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- Authors
- Goldstein, J. M., Jerram, M., Poldrack, R., Ahern, T., Kennedy, D. N., Seidman, L. J., & Makris, N.
- Affiliations
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Emory University (US)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2005-10-05
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 40
- Pages
- 9309-9316
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6725775
- OpenAlex
- W2086817511
- Cited by
- 368
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 35 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 25
- FWCI
- 6.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Centre d'Imagerie BioMédicale
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH56956, R01MH056956)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Estrogen and related hormone effects
- Keywords
- menstrual cycle, estrogen, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, arousal, stress response, central amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, hypothalamic nuclei, hippocampus, electrodermal activity, premenopausal women, sex differences
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Arousal, Avoidance Learning, Brain, Female, Humans, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Intelligence Tests, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Menstrual Cycle, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Oxygen, Photic Stimulation, Pituitary-Adrenal System, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychophysics
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