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Neuroanatomy & -physiology > 04 The Menstrual Cycle and the Brain > Flashcards

04 The Menstrual Cycle and the Brain Flashcards

1
Q

phases of the menstrual cycle

A
  • follicular phase
  • ovulation
  • luteal phase
  • bleeding
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2
Q

follicular phase

A
  • Multiple follicles in both ovaries
  • One follicle becomes dominant follicle
  • Dominant follicle produces estrogen
  • Estrogen peaks before ovulation
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3
Q

Ovulation

A
  • divides follicular and luteal phase
  • around day 14
  • dominant follicle releases an egg
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4
Q

luteal phase

A
  • dominant follicle turns into corpus luteum
  • corpus luteum produces progesterone and estrogen
  • prepares body for pregnancy
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5
Q

Bleeding

A
  • fall in progesterone triggers shedding of the endometrial lining -> period
  • premenstrual symptoms due to hormonal changes
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6
Q

sex hormones in menstrual cycle

A
  • FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone): generally low, decreases after bleeding, peaks shortly before ovulation (as LH), then decreases until 1 week before bleeding, then increase
  • E2 (estrogen/estradiol): increases in follicular phase and peaks before ovulation (earlier than FSH and LH), then drop until shortly after ovulation, increase during first half, decrease during second half of luteal phase
  • LH (luteinizing hormone): drastically increasing before ovulation, then slowly decreasing and remaining more or less constant
  • PG (Progesterone): lowest in follicular phase, rising and peaking in luteal phase, then quick decrease again (triggers period)
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7
Q

Estrogen

A
  • produced in ovaries
  • men have estrogen too
  • main functions: regulates menstrual cycle, indirectly triggers ovulation, development of secondary sex characteristics (e.g. breasts)
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8
Q

Progesterone

A
  • produced in ovaries
  • men have progesterone too
  • main functions: regulates menstrual cycly, prepares body for pregnancy, helps triggering lactation
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9
Q

Brain control of menstrual cycle

A
  • Hypothalamus and pituitary gland are command center of endocrine system
  • form hypothalamic pituitary ovarian (HPO) axis
  • regulates menstrual cycle by secretion of hormones
  • dysfunction of HPO-axis as a cause of infertility
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10
Q

Emotion

A
  • neurocognitive and somatic components
  • dimensions: arousal (quantitative) and valence (qualitative)
  • ANS pushes organism towards state of max engagement (“fight-or-flight”, sympathetic) or recreation (parasympathetic)
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11
Q

Amygdala and emotions

A
  • 3 main areas: medial (olfaction), basolateral (cortical input), central (hypothalamic output)
  • projections to hypothalamus are paramount in linking cortical cognitive states (fear, surprise) to according somatic reactions
  • perception of physical state projects back and is integrated into interpretation
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12
Q

basal ganglia and emotions

A
  • (esp. dopamine) code for reward intensity in light of reward expectancy and can thereby support feedback-guided learning
  • drugs of abuse overwhelm reward system with neurotransmitters and make it less sensitive to naturally occuring rewards
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13
Q

direct effects of steroid hormones on mood - problems

A

complicated to study because steroid hormones interact with each other and with other neurotransmitters

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14
Q

estrogen and mood

A
  • positive effect on mood
  • peaks in late follicular phase
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15
Q

progesterone and mood

A
  • negative effect on mood (e.g. irritability, depression)
  • peaks in mid-luteal phase
  • high density in brain regions involved in emotions (e.g. amygdala)
  • paradoxical effects: anxiolytic and anxiogenic
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16
Q

menstrual cycle phases and emotion recognition

A
  • follicular phase: accuracy increases (esp. for sad faces)
  • luteal phase: accuracy decreases, but sad and angry faces elicit faster responses and are experienced subjectively as more intense
  • sex differences in reaction time are greates in mid-luteal phase, but women are somewhat better at early automatic visual processing than men in general
17
Q

Emotional Memory and Menstruation

A
  • involves the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal-Axis (HPA)
  • Luteal phase : increased memory & recall correlated positively with progesterone levels, increased spontaneous intrusive memories of traumatic incident (especially if it occurred in the luteal phase as well), increased cortisol reactivity
  • but estrogen levels also high in luteal phase, difficult to disentangle effects
  • both interact with serotonin as well
18
Q

Menstrual cycle and Emotion: Neuroimaging results

A

in luteal phase compared to early follicular phase:
- increased amygdala reactivity
- increased anterior cingulate cortex reactivity to neg. emotional stimuli
- increased hippocampus reactivity during affective processing (in late-follicular and mid-luteal phase)
- decreased middle & superior frontal gyri activity in affective processing

19
Q

premenstrual dysphoric disorder - incidence and DSM-5 symptoms, time course

A
  • 2-5% of women in childbearing age, subthreshold 18% of women
  • psychological: anxiety, depression, emotional lability
  • vegetative: appetite, sleep changes
  • physical: acne, breast pain, cramps, headaches
  • onset in late luteal phase, remission within 1-2 days after menstruation onset
20
Q

premenstrual dysphoric disorder - findings

A
  • symptom on- and offset closely related to progesterone levels
  • lower threshold for amygdala activity in reaction to progesterone
  • symptoms possibly triggered by progesterone withdrawal or estrogen?
  • impaired emotion recognition and negative bias (not only in luteal phase according to some studies)
21
Q

Estrogen and progesterone receptors

A
  • located in multiple organs/locations, including CNS
  • known locations of membrane-associated receptors in the brain: Hippocampus, PFC, nucleus accumbens (Estrogen only)
22
Q

Function of Hippocampus

A
  • paramount importance for declarative (semantic, episodic) memory and spatial orientation
  • PET and fMRI activity in learning
  • large hippocampi in London cab drivers
  • specific activity of hippocampal neurons in declarative memory and orientation tasks (“place cells”)
  • hippocampal dysfunction: primarily anterograde amnesia (no new memory formation after damage)
23
Q

Menstrual cycle and hippocampus

A
  • increased gray matter volume in late follicular phase vs. early
  • decreased gray matter volume in mid luteal phase vs. late follicular phase
  • no differences in memory task across phases
  • correlation between hormonal levels and hippocampal gray matter volume present
  • estrogen -> higher gray matter volume and progesterone -> lower GM volume, gray matter volume positively correlated with working memory

Neuroanatomy & -physiology (14 decks)

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