The Opposite Effects of Estradiol and Progesterone on Woman’s Disgust Processing

Abstract

Ovarian hormones play a critical role in emotion processing, which might be the major reason for the high rates of major depressive disorders in women. However, the exact roles of estradiol and progesterone on the basic emotions remain unclear. To this end, we performed a behavioral and an rs-fMRI study. Experiment 1 examines the specific influence of these two ovarian hormones on pathogen disgust and moral disgust processing across the menstrual cycle using the single category implicit association test (SC-IAT) and explicit measures of disgust intensity task. In experiment 2, we used the amygdala, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex(dACC), and insula as a seed to explore the menstrual cycle effects on intrinsic connectivity networks related to emotion processing. The behavioral results showed that women during the luteal phase had higher D scores and shorter response times (RTs) to disgust stimuli (both for pathogen disgust and moral disgust stimuli) compared to the menses phase and follicular phase. Instead, women during the follicular phase had fewer disgust feelings and longer response time (RTs) to pathogen stimuli compared to the menses phase and luteal phase, but this effect was moderated by the intensity of the stimuli. Furthermore, there was no difference in subject moral disgust feelings between the three cycle phases. The rs-fMRI studies showed that luteal phase women have higher functional connectivity in the salience network compared to the follicular phase. And compared to the menstrual phase, follicular phase women have lower functional connectivity in the anterior insula and amygdala. In summary, the more negative attitude to disgust stimuli and the enhanced functional connectivity of the salience network shown during the luteal phase may be associated with high progesterone levels, whereas the lower disgust feelings and reduced functional connectivity of the amygdala shown during the follicular phase may be associated with high estradiol levels.

Association between Disgust Sensitivity during Pregnancy and Endogenous Steroids: A Longitudinal Study

“…In the first trimester, the levels of DHEA sulfate also positively correlated with the scores of the Contamination disgust subscale of the DS-R. Our results are not in line with two studies that found no association between salivary estradiol levels and disgust sensitivity measured by TDDS [18,29], but it should be noted that both of the aforementioned studies were conducted on a population of nonpregnant women and they focused on the relationship between disgust and estradiol levels during the menstrual cycle. On the other hand, some studies have shown higher levels of disgust sensitivity during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, when estrogen levels are elevated, in comparison with the menstrual phase [20,23]. That is in line with our findings.…”

“…A cross-sectional study also found elevated disgust sensitivity during the luteal phase in a subsample of women who recently had an infection [22]. In a recent study, women in the luteal phase displayed a more negative attitude and higher sensitivity to disgust-related phrases compared to women tested during the follicular phase or menstruation [23].…”