2017-03-05 09:20:09
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a set of symptoms that appear a few days before menstruation. It is estimated that between 30 and 80% of women suffer from this syndrome to a greater or lesser degree. Symptoms include both physical and psychological problems. Although not all women of childbearing age suffer from it, it is obviously related to the hormonal changes produced during the menstrual cycle. In particular, it is triggered in the so-called luteal phase of menstruation, which begins after ovulation and the subsequent generation in the ovary of the corpus luteum, which produces a significant amount of the hormone progesterone and also estradiol.
However, during menstruation, some women suffer from even more serious problems, it is the so-called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), suffered by between 3% and 8% of women of menstruating age.
Serious symptoms of PMDD include marked irritability, severe depression, suicidal thoughts, severe anxiety, panic attacks, large changes in appetite, bloating, and menstrual cramps. PMDD also occurs during the luteal phase, so it also seems to be related to the hormonal changes inherent to this process.
Researchers at the US Institute of Mental Health have examined whether luteal phase hormones affect gene function differently in women with PMDD.
Clearly, changes in mood and behavior are probably due to hormonal effects on neurons or other cells of the nervous system. Since neurons cannot be studied in vivo, the researchers are looking at changes in gene function in blood cells, which, interestingly, display changes in gene function during the menstrual cycle similar to those seen in neurons. , at least in the case of laboratory animals. These analyzes reveal that luteal phase hormones abnormally affect the functioning of not just one gene, but a whole set of 13 genes known by the esoteric name of ESC/E(Z).
The authors of the study consider this to be an important discovery for women’s health, since it reveals that the mood and emotional changes related to menstruation are not under the voluntary control of the woman and, therefore, she is not responsible for they.
More information in the Blog of dissemination of Jorge Laborda
Referencia: N. Dubey et al. (2017). The ESC/E(Z) complex, an effector of response to ovarian steroids, manifests an intrinsic difference in cells from women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Molecular Psychiatry, (3 January 2017) | doi:10.1038/mp.2016.229.
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