Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle
Understanding sex differences in stress regulation has important implications for understanding basic physiological differences in the male and female brain and their impact on vulnerability to sex differences in chronic medical disorders associated with stress response circuitry. In this functional...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Society for Neuroscience
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55970 |
| _version_ | 1811078264193548288 |
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| author | Abbs, Brandon Goldstein, Jill M. Jerram, Matthew Makris, Nikos Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Abbs, Brandon Goldstein, Jill M. Jerram, Matthew Makris, Nikos Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan |
| author_sort | Abbs, Brandon |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Understanding sex differences in stress regulation has important implications for understanding basic physiological differences in the male and female brain and their impact on vulnerability to sex differences in chronic medical disorders associated with stress response circuitry. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we demonstrated that significant sex differences in brain activity in stress response circuitry were dependent on women's menstrual cycle phase. Twelve healthy Caucasian premenopausal women were compared to a group of healthy men from the same population, based on age, ethnicity, education, and right handedness. Subjects were scanned using negative valence/high arousal versus neutral visual stimuli that we demonstrated activated stress response circuitry [amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, brainstem, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG)]. Women were scanned twice based on normal variation in menstrual cycle hormones [i.e., early follicular (EF) compared with late follicular–midcycle (LF/MC) menstrual phases]. Using SPM8b, there were few significant differences in blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes in men compared to EF women, except ventromedial nucleus (VMN), lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), left amygdala, and ACG. In contrast, men exhibited significantly greater BOLD signal changes compared to LF/MC women on bilateral ACG and OFC, mPFC, LHA, VMN, hippocampus, and periaqueductal gray, with largest effect sizes in mPFC and OFC. Findings suggest that sex differences in stress response circuitry are hormonally regulated via the impact of subcortical brain activity on the cortical control of arousal, and demonstrate that females have been endowed with a natural hormonal capacity to regulate the stress response that differs from males. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:56:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/55970 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:56:45Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | Society for Neuroscience |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/559702022-10-01T00:06:37Z Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle Abbs, Brandon Goldstein, Jill M. Jerram, Matthew Makris, Nikos Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT Martinos Imaging Center (McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT) Gabrieli, Susan Goldstein, Jill M. Jerram, Matthew Gabrieli, Susan Makris, Nikos Understanding sex differences in stress regulation has important implications for understanding basic physiological differences in the male and female brain and their impact on vulnerability to sex differences in chronic medical disorders associated with stress response circuitry. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we demonstrated that significant sex differences in brain activity in stress response circuitry were dependent on women's menstrual cycle phase. Twelve healthy Caucasian premenopausal women were compared to a group of healthy men from the same population, based on age, ethnicity, education, and right handedness. Subjects were scanned using negative valence/high arousal versus neutral visual stimuli that we demonstrated activated stress response circuitry [amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, brainstem, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG)]. Women were scanned twice based on normal variation in menstrual cycle hormones [i.e., early follicular (EF) compared with late follicular–midcycle (LF/MC) menstrual phases]. Using SPM8b, there were few significant differences in blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes in men compared to EF women, except ventromedial nucleus (VMN), lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), left amygdala, and ACG. In contrast, men exhibited significantly greater BOLD signal changes compared to LF/MC women on bilateral ACG and OFC, mPFC, LHA, VMN, hippocampus, and periaqueductal gray, with largest effect sizes in mPFC and OFC. Findings suggest that sex differences in stress response circuitry are hormonally regulated via the impact of subcortical brain activity on the cortical control of arousal, and demonstrate that females have been endowed with a natural hormonal capacity to regulate the stress response that differs from males. Athinoula Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital Collaborative Start-up Award 2010-06-25T18:32:29Z 2010-06-25T18:32:29Z 2010-01 2009-11 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1529-2401 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55970 Goldstein, Jill M et al. “Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle.” J. Neurosci. 30.2 (2010): 431-438. © 2010 The Society for Neuroscience en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.3021-09.2010 Journal of Neuroscience Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Society for Neuroscience Society for Neuroscience |
| spellingShingle | Abbs, Brandon Goldstein, Jill M. Jerram, Matthew Makris, Nikos Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle |
| title | Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle |
| title_full | Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle |
| title_fullStr | Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle |
| title_short | Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle |
| title_sort | sex differences in stress response circuitry activation dependent on female hormonal cycle |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55970 |
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