Progesterone: The neglected hormone in schizophrenia? A focus on progesterone-dopamine interactions

anon79999497 · September 9, 2016, 2:18pm

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Progesterone: The neglected hormone in schizophrenia? A focus on progesterone-dopamine interactions.

J Sun, AJ Walker, B Dean, M van den Buuse and A Gogos, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Dec 2016

Sex differences appear to be an important factor in schizophrenia. Women with schizophrenia tend to exhibit less disease impairment than men, typically presenting with a later age-at-onset, lower overall incidence and less severe symptoms. These observations underpin the estrogen hypothesis of schizophrenia, which postulates a protective role of estrogen against the development and severity of the disorder. While there has been significant attention placed on the impact of estrogens in schizophrenia, less consideration has been afforded to the role of progesterone, the other main female gonadal hormone. This narrative review discusses the role of progesterone as a neuroactive steroid and how it may be dysregulated in schizophrenia. Preclinical and molecular studies relevant to schizophrenia are discussed with a particular focus on the interactions between progesterone and the dopaminergic system. Notably, existing data on progesterone in relation to schizophrenia is inconsistent, with some studies suggesting a neuroprotective role for the hormone (e.g. animal models of cognitive dysfunction and positive symptoms), while other studies posit a disruptive impact of the hormone (e.g. negative correlations with symptom modulation in patients). This review aims to thoroughly address these discrepancies, concluding that altogether the data suggest that progesterone is a key modulator of central systems implicated in schizophrenia. On this basis, we argue that a more inclusive, considered effort of future studies to understand the intricacies of the interactions between progesterone and estrogen. Such an effort may enhance our understanding of the roles of sex hormones in schizophrenia, thus leading to avenues for novel therapeutic approaches.

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com.sci-hub.cc/retrieve/pii/S0306453016305893 (Full article)

Anon10 · September 10, 2016, 5:29am

I personally think its a dead end. From what I’ve seen on this board men and women are pretty much equal when it comes to symptom severity. Their data was wrong, women suffer equally to men.

Hopefully they keep exploring these different potential therapies. New drugs don’t seem to be coming out fast enough.

anon79999497 · September 10, 2016, 7:21am

Are we saying that the relatively few posters here accurately reflects all men and women with schizophrenia?

Mouseymoo · September 10, 2016, 10:57am

I don’t know if women suffer less than men but I do think progesterone plays a role in getting schizophrenia. I believe this because so many women get their illness during or straight after pregnancy. I am one of those woman.

Webby · September 10, 2016, 11:27am

progesterone in the pill has been noted to cause thrombosis in people who gain weight while on the pill over a number of years xx i know we all have progesterone in our bodies naturally but an increase in it due to the pill it has caused problems xx

anon77239798 · September 10, 2016, 12:00pm

I heard that they believe estrogen plays a role with women and disease, I thought perhaps this study was trying to say that other hormones do as well.

anon79999497 · September 10, 2016, 12:02pm

That is what they are suggesting.

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Progesterone: The neglected hormone in schizophrenia? A focus on progesterone-dopamine interactions

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