Case-control study, 2014
Do women with PMDD have different brain activation during emotion processing?
Women with PMDD showed lower activation in certain brain emotion-processing regions, especially those carrying a specific gene variant (Met-allele). This is suggestive evidence but based on a small study.
What they did
Case-control study of 31 women with PMDD and 31 healthy controls. A subset of 16 PMDD patients and 15 controls had brain imaging while performing emotion tasks during two phases of the menstrual cycle (mid-follicular and late luteal).
What they found
PMDD patients had lower activation in the pre-genual anterior cingulate and ventro-medial prefrontal cortex regardless of menstrual phase. The genes studied were not directly linked to PMDD diagnosis. However, women with PMDD who were carriers of the Met-allele of the BDNF gene showed lower fronto-cingulate activation in the luteal phase compared to Met-allele carrying controls.
What it means for you
Brain emotion processing areas may work differently in PMDD, possibly related to a specific genetic variant. The small sample size limits confidence in the findings.
31
women with PMDD
31
healthy controls
16
PMDD women in brain imaging
About the study
- Original title
- Emotional fronto-cingulate cortex activation and brain derived neurotrophic factor polymorphism in premenstrual dysphoric disorder
- Authors
- Comasco E, Hahn A, Ganger S et al.
- Journal
- Human brain mapping
- Year
- 2014
- Study design
- Case-control study
- Participants
- 31
- What was tested
- Emotion processing task during brain imaging
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22486
Topics
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