A study of neuroendocrinological mechanisms underlying a women's vulnerability to emotional disorders

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Women are more likely than men to suffer from anxiety and depressive disorders, and estrogens are considered to play an important role in the emotional regulation. We demonstrated that the chronic estrogen treatment in higher doses, which were comparable to gestational estrogen levels, enhanced the reactivity of ovariectomized female mice to emotional stimuli. Additionally, the continuous treatment of the selective agonist of ER-alpha increased the anxiety-related behavior, while the treatments of ER-beta agonist merely suppressed that. These results have important implications for neuroendocrinological mechanisms underlying a women's vulnerability to emotional disorders.