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"National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers have discovered molecular mechanisms that may underlie a woman's susceptibility to disabling irritability, sadness, and anxiety in the days leading up to her menstrual period. Such premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) affects 2 to 5 percent of women of reproductive age, whereas less severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is much more common.
"We found dysregulated expression in a suspect gene complex which adds to evidence that PMDD is a disorder of cellular response to estrogen and progesterone," explained Peter Schmidt, M.D. of the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health, Behavioral Endocrinology Branch. "Learning more about the role of this gene complex holds hope for improved treatment of such prevalent reproductive endocrine-related mood disorders."
Schmidt, David Goldman, M.D., of the NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and colleagues, report on their findings January 3, 2017 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
"This is a big moment for women's health, because it establishes that women with PMDD have an intrinsic difference in their molecular apparatus for response to sex hormones -- not just emotional behaviors they should be able to voluntarily control," said Goldman.
By the late 1990s, the NIMH team had demonstrated that women who regularly experience mood disorder symptoms just prior to their periods were abnormally sensitive to normal changes in sex hormones -- even though their hormone levels were normal. But the cause remained a mystery..."
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