Using positron emission tomography to investigate hormone-mediated neurochemical changes across the female lifespan: implications for depression

Abstract

Ovarian hormones, particularly oestrogen and progesterone, undergo major fluctuations across the female lifespan. These hormone transition periods, such as the transition from pregnancy to postpartum, as well as the transition into menopause (perimenopause), are also known to be times of elevated susceptibility to depression. This study reviews how these transition periods likely influence neurochemical changes in the brain that result in disease vulnerability. While there are known associations between oestrogen/progesterone and different monoaminergic systems, the interactions and their potential implications for mood disorders are relatively unknown. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) allows for the in-vivo quantification of such neurochemical changes, and, thus, can provide valuable insight into how both subtle and dramatic shifts in hormones contribute to the elevated rates of depression during pre-menstrual, post-partum, and perimenopausal periods in a woman's life. As one better understands how to address the challenges of PET studies involving highly vulnerable populations, such as women who have recently given birth, one will gain the insight necessary to design and individualize treatment and therapy. Understanding the precise time-line in younger women when dramatic fluctuations in the hormonal milieu may contribute to brain changes may present a powerful opportunity to intervene before a vulnerable state develops into a diseased state in later life. ARTICLE HISTORY

Prevalence and correlation of anxiety and depression on the prognosis of postoperative non-small-cell lung cancer patients in North China

“…Females were more prone to encounter intense hormonal fluctuations linked with reproductive events such as pregnancy and menopause, which was responsible for higher rate of anxiety. [ 17 ]…”

Age and Sex Influence the Neuro-inflammatory Response to a Peripheral Acute LPS Challenge

“…The amplitude and duration of the context-dependent activation of microglia are regulated by many pattern-recognition receptors, and immune receptors that deliver either activating or inhibitory signals. TREM2 and TREML2 are two microglia/monocyte regulators with potential and opposite roles in neurodegenerative disorders such as AD (Zsido et al, 2017). We show that acute peripheral administration of LPS induced an opposite modulation of TREM2 and TREML2 transcripts.…”

Influence of ovarian hormones on value-based decision-making systems: Contribution to sexual dimorphisms in mental disorders

“…Hormonal transition phases, e.g. puberty, postpartum or menopause, are defined by larger alterations in endogenous hormone levels in women; these phases have been associated with considerable mood changes and elevated risk for depression onset (Freeman et al, 2014;Munk-Olsen et al, 2006;Zsido et al, 2017;Lewis et al, 2019).…”