ArticleMolecular psychiatry2008
Progesterone selectively increases amygdala reactivity in women.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
117 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 268 citations in OpenAlex.
- Contemplative-based interventions for premenstrual syndrome: a systematic review of psychobiological outcomes.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of separate and combined estradiol and progesterone administration on fear extinction in healthy pre-menopausal women.Translational psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Kinetics of oxytocin effects on amygdala and striatal reactivity vary between women and men.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- Blocking the mineralocorticoid receptor in humans prevents the stress-induced enhancement of centromedial amygdala connectivity with the dorsal striatum.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2015Trial
- The neurosteroids allopregnanolone and dehydroepiandrosterone modulate resting-state amygdala connectivity.Human brain mapping · 2014Trial
- Acute effects of Sceletium tortuosum (Zembrin), a dual 5-HT reuptake and PDE4 inhibitor, in the human amygdala and its connection to the hypothalamus.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2013Trial
- The effects of exogenous progesterone on drug craving and stress arousal in cocaine dependence: impact of gender and cue type.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2013Trial
- Allopregnanolone elevations following pregnenolone administration are associated with enhanced activation of emotion regulation neurocircuits.Biological psychiatry · 2013Trial
- Hormonal contraception use alters stress responses and emotional memory.Biological psychology · 2013Trial
- Facial emotion recognition and amygdala activation are associated with menstrual cycle phase.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2008Trial
- How progesterone impairs memory for biologically salient stimuli in healthy young women.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2007Trial
- Hormonal contraceptives impair psychomotor vigilance task performance under sleep deprivation with stress induction.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- Menstrual Cycle-Related Hormonal Fluctuations in ADHD: Effect on Cognitive Functioning-A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Assessment of emotional status and risk factors in early pregnancy using multidimensional data: a cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Effects of maternal exposure to exogenous progesterone during pregnancy on offspring neurodevelopment.BMC pediatrics · 2025Observational
- Comparison of 5-Day Multidaily Neuronavigated Theta-Burst Sessions With 6-Week Standard Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (the Dutch Depression Outcome Trial): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Transcription of GABATranslational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Effects of menstrual cycle phases on approach-avoidance behaviors in women: a behavioral and event-related potentials study.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Sex Differences in the Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Dimensional Affective Sensitivity to Hormones across the Menstrual Cycle (DASH-MC): A transdiagnostic framework for ovarian steroid influences on psychopathology.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Review
57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The acute neural effects of progesterone are mediated by its neuroactive metabolites allopregnanolone and pregnanolone. These neurosteroids potentiate the inhibitory actions of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Progesterone is known to produce anxiolytic effects in animals, but recent animal studies suggest that pregnanolone increases anxiety after a period of low allopregnanolone concentration. This effect is potentially mediated by the amygdala and related to the negative mood symptoms in humans that are observed during increased allopregnanolone levels. Therefore, we investigated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) whether a single progesterone administration to healthy young women in their follicular phase modulates the amygdala response to salient, biologically relevant stimuli. The progesterone administration increased the plasma concentrations of progesterone and allopregnanolone to levels that are reached during the luteal phase and early pregnancy. The imaging results show that progesterone selectively increased amygdala reactivity. Furthermore, functional connectivity analyses indicate that progesterone modulated functional coupling of the amygdala with distant brain regions. These results reveal a neural mechanism by which progesterone may mediate adverse effects on anxiety and mood.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.