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Estrogen, cognitive functions and emotion: an overview on humans, non-human primates and rodents in reproductive years
-
Antonella Gasbarri
,
Maria Clotilde H. Tavares
Published/Copyright:
August 24, 2012
Abstract
Accumulating evidence has highlighted a number of important, global issues regarding the influence of estrogen on emotion and cognitive functions, including learning and memory processes, both in animal models and humans. The influence of estrogen on cognition and emotion can be explained by taking into account its modulator role on several neurotransmitter systems, acetylcholine in particular, but also catecholamines, serotonin and GABA in rodents, primates and humans. Another reason may lie in the widespread presence of the two classes (α and β) of estrogen receptors in many brain regions involved in emotion and cognition, including the hippocampal formation, amygdala and cerebral cortex. The present review reports on research conducted in our laboratory and others with the objective of identifying the action of estrogens on cognition and emotion in rodents, monkeys and humans in youth. In particular, the first section, focused on the mechanisms of estrogens action in the brain, illustrates the involvement of estrogen receptors and neurotransmitters in the cognitive and emotional processes; the second section deals with the estrogen effects on cognitive and emotional mechanisms, with particular emphasis on memory and the involvement of estrogen in emotion and cognition across the estrous/menstrual cycle.
Received: 2012-5-10
Accepted: 2012-7-5
Published Online: 2012-08-24
Published in Print: 2012-11-01
©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Keywords for this article
cognition;
estrous cycle;
learning and memory;
menstrual cycle;
steroid hormones
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Guest Editorial
- Special Issue: The emotional brain and its relation to psychopathology
- Emotional modulation of the synapse
- Interplay of amygdala and insular cortex during and after associative taste aversion memory formation
- PKMζ inhibition prevents the metaplastic change induced by conditioned taste aversion on insular cortex long-term potentiation in vivo
- Taste and odor recognition memory: the emotional flavor of life
- Intense emotional experiences and enhanced training prevent memory loss induced by post-training amnesic treatments administered to the striatum, amygdala, hippocampus or substantia nigra
- Prefrontal/accumbal catecholamine system processes emotionally driven attribution of motivational salience
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- Contribution of serotonin type 3 receptors in the successful extinction of cued or contextual fear conditioned responses: interactions with GABAergic signaling
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