Assessment of Cognitive Performance after Progesterone Administration in Healthy Male Volunteers

Abstract

Administration of progesterone produces sleep EEG patterns that resemble those of agonistic modulators at the GABA_A receptor. Previous studies evaluating the effects of an oral progesterone administration on attention performance in females pointed to putative sedative effects of progesterone at high dosages. However, no data are available whether progesterone dosages that influence sleep produce sedative hangover effects on the following morning. Therefore, we assessed the effects of a single oral dose of 300 mg micronized progesterone administered in the evening on cognitive performance parameters in male healthy volunteers on the following morning using a placebo-controlled double-blind crossover design. There was a great variability in bioavailability following progesterone intake. The administration of progesterone produced no consistent effects on attention performance. Thus, dosages of progesterone that are sufficient to modulate sleep are not likely to exert sedative hangover effects.

Exogenous Progesterone Attenuates the Subjective Effects of Smoked Cocaine in Women, but not in Men

“…Two more recent studies administered progesterone intramuscularly in acute doses of 100 mg (de Wit et al, 2001) and 200 mg (Söderpalm et al, 2004), producing peak plasma progesterone levels (82 and 175 ng/ml, respectively) well above those observed during a normal luteal phase; even under those conditions there were only modest increases in sedation and minimal performance impairment. In males, oral progesterone administration (10 mg/day) for 7 days impaired reaction time and increased sluggishness (Little et al, 1974), whereas an acute dose of 300 mg did not alter cognitive performance (Grön et al, 1997). In the present study, items related to sedation were included in the bad drug effect cluster; yet, there was no evidence that progesterone administration resulted in any adverse effects.…”

Progesterone improves cognitive performance and attenuates smoking urges in abstinent smokers

“…In normally cycling women, selective cognitive functions including verbal memory, attention, and visual memory were enhanced during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and performance in these functions were positively correlated with endogenous progesterone levels (Phillips and Sherwin, 1992; Solis-Ortiz and Corsi-Cabrera, 2008). However, when administered directly, progesterone did not affect or reduce cognitive performance in healthy males (Gron et al, 1997), normally cycling females (van Wingen et al, 2007) or postmenopausal females (Schussler et al, 2008). Moreover, the Women’s Health Initiative recently reported little or no benefit of estradiol plus progestins (medroxyprogesterone acetate) on global cognitive function and memory function in postmenopausal women (Rapp et al, 2003; Resnick et al, 2006).…”

Effects of Progesterone on Sleep: A Possible Pharmacological Treatment for Sleep-Breathing Disorders?

“…This mechanism is related to the anxiolytic effects of progesterone. Indeed, the administration of exogenous progesterone in various mammalian species revealed anxiolytic effects [17].…”

“…Thus, Gron and co-workers [17] assessed the effects of a single oral dose of 300 mg micronized progesterone administration in healthy male volunteers. The administration of progesterone produced no consistent effects on attention performance, leading the authors to affirm that the dosages of progesterone that modulate sleep are not likely to exert sedative after-effects.…”