The impact of estrous cycle on anxiety-like behaviour during unlearned fear tests in female rats and mice: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Anxiety fluctuates across the human menstrual cycle, with symptoms worsening during phases of declining or low ovarian hormones. Similar findings have been observed across the rodent estrous cycle, however, the magnitude and robustness of these effects have not been meta-analytically quantified. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of estrous cycle effects on anxiety-like behaviour (124 articles; k = 259 effect sizes).

The effects of diazepam on fear extinction in nulliparous and primiparous female rats.

Benzodiazepines undermine the success of exposure therapy in humans with anxiety disorders, and impair the long-term memory of fear extinction (the laboratory basis of exposure therapy) in rodents. However, most rodent studies on fear extinction and benzodiazepines have been conducted in male rodents. In female rodents, the estrous cycle influences the consolidation of fear extinction memories and sensitivity to benzodiazepines.

Dissociable role of the basolateral complex of the amygdala in the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear following reproductive experience in female rats.

In female rats and humans, reproductive experience (i.e., pregnancy) alters the behavioral, hormonal and molecular substrates of fear extinction.

Reproductive experience alters the effects of diazepam and fluoxetine on anxiety-like behaviour, fear extinction, and corticosterone levels in female rats.

Overview: Reproductive experience (pregnancy and motherhood) leads to long-term changes in the neurobiological and hormonal features of anxiety in rats and humans. The aim of this study was to examine whether reproductive experience alters the effects of two pharmacological treatments for anxiety, a benzodiazepine (diazepam) and a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (fluoxetine), on animal models of anxiety.

Methods: In Experiment 1, virgin (n = 47) and age-matched mother (n = 50) rats at 1-month post-weaning were injected with diazepam (1.

The impact of the ovarian cycle on anxiety, allopregnanolone, and corticotropin releasing hormone changes after motherhood in female rats and women.

Fluctuations in ovarian steroids across the estrous and menstrual cycle in female rats and women, respectively, are associated with changes in anxiety. Pregnancy causes long-term changes to ovarian hormone release, yet research on estrous- and menstrual-related changes in anxiety has focused on reproductively inexperienced females. Therefore, this study assessed whether the impact of estrous and menstrual cycles on anxiety differs pre- versus post-motherhood in female rats (n = 32) and a community sample of women (n = 63).

What Pre-clinical Rat Models Can Tell Us About Anxiety Across the Menstrual Cycle in Healthy and Clinically Anxious Humans.

Purpose Of Review: Anxiety symptoms increase during the peri-menstrual phase of the menstrual cycle in people with anxiety disorders. Whether this reflects a heightened variant of normal menstrual-related changes in psychological states experienced by healthy (i.e.

Maternal Experience Does Not Predict Fear Extinction and Anxiety-Like Behaviour in Primiparous Rats Post-weaning.

Reproductive experience leads to long-lasting changes in anxiety-like behaviour and fear extinction, the laboratory model of exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. For example, fear extinction is influenced by estrous cycle in nulliparous (no reproductive experience) female rats, but this effect is abolished in primiparous (one reproductive experience) females. It is unclear whether such changes are driven by pregnancy, maternal experience of caring for offspring during the postpartum period, or a combination of both experiences.