ReviewThe European journal of neuroscience2020
The neurobiological basis of sex differences in learned fear and its inhibition.
Review in The European journal of neuroscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 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.
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Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Factors associated with gender and sex differences in anxiety prevalence and comorbidity: A systematic review.Science progressPooled it
- Optogenetic stimulation of the infralimbic cortex prior to fear extinction learning rescues deficits in a preclinical model of comorbid PTSD and AUD.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Heat-Killed Bifidobacterium longum KABP-042 and Lactiplantibacillus Plantarum KABP-051 Prevent Scopolamine-Induced BDNF Reduction and Memory Impairment in Mice.Cell biochemistry and biophysics · 2026Article
- Effect of gonadectomy and hormone replacement on habenula-induced dopamine inhibition in female and male rats.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- A novel role for the infralimbic cortex in conditioned fear responding.Oxford open neuroscience · 2026Article
- Female rats adopt a safety-first strategy in a high-conflict platform mediated avoidance task.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Review
- Lasting effects of oral contraceptives on fear responses to a safe context.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Reduction in Reward-Driven Behavior Depends on the Basolateral But Not Central Nucleus of the Amygdala in Female Rats.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Profiling mouse behavior with computational tools to assess age-dependent differences in associative learning.Cell reports methods · 2025Article
- Prepronociceptin-Expressing Neurons in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis Signal Escape Behavior.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Frequency-Dependent Modulation of Short-Term Neuronal Dynamics in the Female and Male Dorsal and Ventral Rat Hippocampus.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Windows of change: Revisiting temporal and molecular dynamics of memory reconsolidation and persistence.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
- Tracking conditioned fear in pair-housed mice using deep learning and real-time cue delivery.Neurobiology of stress · 2025Article
- Anxiety disorders in the Middle East and North Africa region; 1990 to 2021.Acta neuropsychiatrica · 2025Article
- High ovarian hormones present during fear extinction reduce fear relapse through a nigrostriatal dopamine pathway.Biology of sex differences · 2025Article
- Role of Thalamic CaInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Involvement of dysregulated hippocampal histone H3K9 methylation at the promoter of the BDNF gene in impaired memory extinction.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Loss of mGluMolecular psychiatry · 2024Article
- Sex-Dependent Effects of Angiotensin Type 2 Receptor-Expressing Medial Prefrontal Cortex Interneurons in Fear Extinction Learning.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Learning that certain cues or environments predict threat enhances survival by promoting appropriate fear and the resulting defensive responses. Adapting to changing stimulus contingencies by learning that such cues no longer predict threat, or distinguishing between these threat-related and other innocuous stimuli, also enhances survival by limiting fear responding in an appropriate manner to conserve resources. Importantly, a failure to inhibit fear in response to harmless stimuli is a feature of certain anxiety and trauma-related disorders, which are also associated with dysfunction of the neural circuitry underlying learned fear and its inhibition. Interestingly, these disorders are up to twice as common in women, compared to men. Despite this striking sex difference in disease prevalence, the neurobiological factors involved remain poorly understood. This is due in part to the majority of relevant preclinical studies having neglected to include female subjects alongside males, which has greatly hindered progress in this field. However, more recent studies have begun to redress this imbalance and emerging evidence indicates that there are significant sex differences in the inhibition of learned fear and associated neural circuit function. This paper provides a narrative review on sex differences in learned fear and its inhibition through extinction and discrimination, along with the key gonadal hormone and brain mechanisms involved. Understanding the endocrine and neural basis of sex differences in learned fear inhibition may lead to novel insights on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the enhanced vulnerability to develop anxiety-related disorders that are observed in women.
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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.