ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2026
The role of ovarian hormones in risk aversion in female rats.
Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Robust effects of food deprivation as a relapse trigger: comparison to other stressors, and investigation of predictive individual traits in male and female rats.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Sex-specific effects of the atypical antipsychotic risperidone on performance in a risky decision-making task.Behavioural brain research · 2026Article
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.
Funding
Abstract
Decision making involving risk of punishment is a cognitive process characterized by sex-specific phenotypes, with females exhibiting greater risk aversion than males. Although prior research has demonstrated that ovarian hormones, and estradiol (E2) in particular, contribute to increased risk aversion in females, the receptor mechanisms underlying these effects remain unknown. Further, it is unclear what role the other key ovarian hormone progesterone (P4) plays in female risk aversion. Accordingly, the current set of experiments were designed to address these gaps in knowledge of the hormonal basis of female risk-taking behavior. Female rats were trained in a punishment-based risky decision-making task, ovariectomized, and then retested in the decision-making task. Rats were then treated with estradiol benzoate (Experiment 1; EB), estrogen receptor (ER) agonists (Experiment 2) or progesterone (Experiment 3; P4) after daily test sessions for 7 days. Consistent with prior work, OVX increased risk taking, and EB administration attenuated this effect. Administration of an ERα agonist, either alone or with an ERβ agonist, similarly mitigated the effects of OVX on risk taking. In contrast, the ERβ agonist alone was ineffective in restoring risk aversion in OVX females. Control tests confirmed that the effects of the ERα agonist on risk taking were not due to altered food motivation or footshock sensitivity. Finally, P4 administration did not alter risk taking in OVX females and did not inhibit EB's behavioral effects. Collectively, these data reveal that E2 is the critical ovarian hormone that promotes female risk aversion; further, they suggest that the likely mechanism by which E2 influences risk aversion in females is through activation of ERα.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.