Lower estradiol predicts increased reinstatement of fear in women

Abstract

Low levels of estradiol in women have been associated with impaired fear extinction recall, with suggestions this may promote the return of fear and heighten the female vulnerability for anxiety disorders. A particularly important measure for the return of fear is reinstatement, but no human studies to date have examined the impact of estradiol on fear reinstatement. Forty-two healthy females completed a differential fear conditioning, extinction and reinstatement task with skin conductance response (SCR) amplitude indexing level of conditioned fear. Saliva samples were taken to measure estradiol and progesterone. To examine fear reinstatement, SCR amplitude was compared between the last tri..