Short-term hormone treatment modulates emotion response circuitry in postmenopausal women

• Published in: Fertility and sterility Vol. 93; no. 6; pp. 1929 - 1937
• Main Authors: Love, Tiffany, Smith, Yolanda R., Persad, Carol C., Tkaczyk, Anne, Zubieta, Jon-Kar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.04.2010
• Subjects: Brain; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - drug effects; Cross-Over Studies; Double-Blind Method; Drug Administration Schedule; Drug Combinations; emotional pictures; emotional processing; Emotions - drug effects; estrogen; Estrogen Replacement Therapy - methods; Estrogens - administration & dosage; Ethinyl Estradiol - administration & dosage; Female; fMRI; hormones; Humans; Internal Medicine; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; menopause; Middle Aged; Nerve Net - diagnostic imaging; Nerve Net - drug effects; Nerve Net - physiology; neuroimaging; Norethindrone - administration & dosage; Norethindrone - analogs & derivatives; Norethindrone Acetate; Obstetrics and Gynecology; Placebos; Postmenopause - drug effects; Postmenopause - psychology; progestin; Radiography; Time Factors; women's health; Brain; fMRI; estrogen; progestin; menopause; hormones; women's health; emotional processing; emotional pictures; neuroimaging
• ISSN: 0015-0282; 1556-5653; 1556-5653
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.12.056

To study the effects of combination hormone therapy (HT) on emotional processing in postmenopausal women with use of functional neuroimaging. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study was performed. A tertiary care university medical center. Ten healthy postmenopausal women (mean age 56.9 years, SD = 1.4 years) were recruited. Women were assigned randomly to the order they received combined HT, 5 μg ethinyl E 2 and 1 mg norethindrone acetate, and placebo. Volunteers received HT or placebo for 4 weeks, followed by a 1-month washout period, and then received the other treatment for 4 weeks. Subjects participated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging emotional processing task, where they were asked to rate emotional pictures as positive, negative, or neutral. Brain activation patterns were compared between HT and placebo conditions within subjects. During negative emotional presentations, after subtracting the effect of neutral images, areas of significant differences between HT and placebo conditions were identified in the orbital, frontal, cingulate, and occipital cortices. During positive emotional image presentation there were significant differences between placebo and HT conditions within the medial frontal cortex. Short-term menopausal treatment with combination HT affects regional brain activity within areas implicated in emotional processing.