Neurobiological aspects of womens' reactivity towards emotional cues in dependence of the menstrual cycle

本项目旨在进一步阐明神经生物学基础，即对高度显著的积极情绪刺激(色情图片、积极情感图片)的反应。从长远来看，它的目的是更好地了解荷尔蒙波动与女性对积极情绪的反应性之间的联系，以及研究月经周期中反应性的变化。一方面，这些见解主要是关于对妇女的研究(以及关于男女性别差异的研究)--因此，例如，它可以在月经周期的哪个阶段对妇女进行检查--另一方面，关于荷尔蒙避孕药的广泛使用，结果也具有高度的实际相关性--因为荷尔蒙避孕药也可能对这种反应性产生很大影响。因此，这项研究的目的是调查月经周期中的荷尔蒙波动如何与高度显著的积极情绪线索的处理有关。这一点应该通过脑电图术和事件相关电位(ERPs)分析来测试。该部门以前的一项研究报告了这一结果，该研究表明，女性在事件相关电位中对情绪词表现出更大的响应性，这种情绪词与动机突显(后期正向电位-LPP)相关，与较高的雌二醇浓度相关(Munk等人，2018年)，应该得到推广：刺激材料应该是不同的(色情、积极和中性)图片，并计划收集雌激素、孕酮和睾酮。此外，芳香酶也计划被分析，因为它是催化从睾酮到雌二醇的代谢的酶。因此，睾酮很有趣，因为它是雌二醇的前体，也是芳香酶的前体，因为(到目前为止还没有回答的)问题是，雌二醇的浓度一方面取决于可用的睾酮-和/或芳香酶浓度。这还没有与对情绪刺激的反应性相关的研究，这是非常有趣的，因为睾酮的浓度在月经周期中被认为是相对恒定的：因此，芳香酶可能是影响雌二醇有效浓度的关键分子。虽然雌二醇、孕酮和睾酮在这个科室已经测量了很长时间，但建立一套系统的唾液芳香酶分析程序(目前只能用血液样本进行分析)，将在初步研究中实施。此外，使用激素避孕药(雌二醇和孕激素，微丸)的女性也将以同样的方式进行研究，因此，一方面作为对照组，另一方面可以调查激素避孕药如何影响情绪反应。

Present project is supposed to further elucidate neurobiological basics regarding the reactivity towards highly salient positive emotional stimuli (erotic pictures, positive valent pictures). In the long run, it is aimed to better understand associations of hormonal fluctuations with the reactivity towards positive emotions in women, as well as to study the variations in reactivity during the menstrual cycle. These insights are, on one hand, on principal relevant regarding studies in women (as well as regarding sex differences between men and women) - so it could for example make a difference at which phase during the menstrual cycle, women are being examined - on the other hand, results are also highly practically relevant regarding the broad use of hormonal contraceptives - as hormonal contraception could also have a great influence on this reactivity. The aim of this study is, therefore, to investigate, how hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle are associated with the processing of highly salient positive emotional cues. This is supposed to be tested using electroencephalography and the analyses of event-related potentials (ERPs). Results that have been reported in a former study from this department, which showed that women showed greater responsivity towards emotional words in an ERP which is related to motivational salience (the 'late positive potential' - "LPP") in association with higher estradiol-concentrations (Munk et al., 2018), are supposed to be extended: the stimulus material is supposed to be different (erotic, positive and neutral) pictures, and the hormones estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone are planned to be collected. Furthermore, aromatase is planned to be analyzed as well, as it is the enzyme that catalysts the metabolism from testosterone to estradiol. Testosterone is therefore, interesting because it is the precursor of estradiol, as well as aromatase, because the (until now unanswered) question is, in which way the concentration of estradiol - is on the one hand depending on available testosterone- and/or aromatase concentration. This has not been investigated in association with the responsivity towards emotional stimuli and is highly interesting because the concentration of testosterone is supposed to be relatively constant during the menstrual cycle: Therefore, aromatase might be the critical molecule influencing the available concentration of estradiol. While estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone have been measured for a long time in this department, the establishment of a systematic analyzation procedure for aromatase in saliva (until now, it can only be analyzed using blood samples), will be implemented in a preliminary study. Furthermore, women using hormonal contraceptives (estradiol & gestagenes, "micropill"), will be studied in the same way, therefore, on one hand serving as control group, on the other hand, it can be investigated, how hormonal contraception influences emotional reactivity.