Sex steroid control of mood, mental state and memory

Abstract

1. Sex steroid hormones exert profound effects on mood and mental state. Thus, in women, oestrogen is thought to protect against depression and delay the onset of schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. 2. Our studies in the female rat show that oestradiol, in its positive feedback mode for gonadotrophin release, increases the expression of genes for the 5- hydroxytryptamine 5-HT(2A) receptor and the serotonin transporter (SERT) in the dorsal raphe nucleus and the density of 5-HT(2A) receptor and SERT sites in regions of the forebrain that, in the human, are concerned with cognition, mental state, emotion and memory. 3. In the male rat, castration decreases while oestrogen and testosterone, b..