Lab study, 2009
Does a stress-reducing hormone work differently at puberty?
Yes. In female mice, pregnanolone (a hormone that normally reduces anxiety) actually increases anxiety at puberty because the brain develops new receptors that respond to it differently.
What they did
Lab study examining how pregnanolone, a stress hormone, affects the brain in female mice before and after puberty. Researchers used cell preparations and brain recordings to measure how the hormone changes nerve cell activity and function.
What they found
Before puberty, pregnanolone reduced nerve cell activity and reduced anxiety. At puberty, these effects reversed. The same hormone now increased nerve cell activity in the hippocampus and increased anxiety behavior. This happened because a specific type of brain receptor increased in expression at puberty.
What it means for you
How hormones affect the brain changes significantly at puberty. This could help explain why many adolescents experience mood swings and become more sensitive to stress. However, this is a study in mice using lab methods, so it is not clear whether the same mechanism happens in human brains.
2
receptor types examined
alpha4beta2delta
receptor type that appears at puberty
CA1 hippocampus
brain region where anxiety increased
About the study
- Original title
- Puberty, steroids and GABA(A) receptor plasticity
- Authors
- Smith SS, Aoki C, Shen H
- Journal
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Year
- 2009
- Study design
- Lab study
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.05.011
Topics
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