Brain estrogen alters the effects of the antidepressant sertraline in middle-aged female and male mice

The association between hormonal contraceptive use and smoking, negative affect, and cessation attempts in college females

Exogenous and endogenous female hormones influence nicotine use and cessation, potentially through mechanisms such as anxiety and negative affect. In the present study, college females using all types of hormonal contraceptives (HC) were compared to those not using HC to determine the potential influence on current smoking, negative affect, and current and past cessation attempts. Differences between progestin-only and combination HC were also examined. Of the 1,431 participants, 53.2% (n = 761) reported current HC use, and 12.3% (n = 176) of participants endorsed current smoking. Women currently using HC were significantly more likely to smoke (13.5%; n = 103) compared to women not using HC (10.9%; n = 73), p = .04. There was a significant main effect of HC use being associated with lower anxiety levels (p = .005), as well as a significant HC use by smoking status interaction, such that women who smoke using HC reported the lowest levels of anxiety among participants (p = .01). Participants using HC were more likely to be making a current attempt to quit smoking than those not using HC (p = .04) and were more likely to have made past quit attempts (p = .04). No significant differences were observed across women using progestin-only, combined estrogen and progestin, and women not using HC. These findings provide evidence that exogenous hormones may be an advantageous treatment target and that they warrant additional study.

The Impact of Hormonal Contraceptive Use on Serotonergic Neurotransmission and Antidepressant Treatment Response: Results From the NeuroPharm 1 Study

BACKGROUND

Hormonal contraceptive (HC) use has been associated with an increased risk of developing a depressive episode. This might be related to HC's effect on the serotonergic brain system as suggested by recent cross-sectional data from our group, which show that healthy oral contraceptive (OC) users relative to non-users have lower cerebral serotonin 4 receptor (5-HT4R) levels. Here, we determine if cerebral 5-HT4R binding differs between HC non-users, OC users, and hormonal intrauterine device (HIUD) users among women with an untreated depressive episode. Also, we test if antidepressant drug treatment response and its association with pre-treatment 5-HT4R binding depends on HC status.

METHODS

[¹¹C]-SB207145 Positron Emission Tomography imaging data from the NeuroPharm-NP1 Study (NCT02869035) were available from 59 depressed premenopausal women, of which 26 used OCs and 10 used HIUDs. The participants were treated with escitalopram. Treatment response was measured as the relative change in the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale 6 items (rΔHAMD₆) from baseline to week eight. Latent variable models were used to evaluate the association between global 5-HT4R binding and OC and HIUD use as well as rΔHAMD₆.

RESULTS

We found no evidence of a difference in global 5-HT4R binding between depressed HC users and non-users (p≥0.51). A significant crossover interaction (p=0.02) was observed between non-users and OC users in the association between baseline global 5-HT4R binding and week eight rΔHAMD₆; OC users had 3-4% lower binding compared to non-users for every 10% percent less improvement in HAMD₆. Within the groups, we observed a trend towards a positive association in non-users (p_adj=0.10) and a negative association in OC users (p_adj=0.07). We found no strong evidence of a difference in treatment response between the groups (p=0.13).

CONCLUSIONS

We found no difference in 5-HT4R binding between HC users vs. non-users in depressed women, however, it seemed that 5-HT4R settings differed qualitatively in their relation to antidepressant drug treatment response between OC users and non-users. From this we speculate that depressed OC users constitutes a special serotonin subtype of depression, which might have implications for antidepressant drug treatment response.

Integrated Network Pharmacology and GC-MS-Based Metabolomics to Investigate the Effect of Xiang-Su Volatile Oil Against Menopausal Depression

Menopausal depression perplexes a great number of women in later life. Xiangfu-Zisu (Xiang-Su), a traditional Chinese herbal pair composed of rhizomes of Cyperus rotundus L. (Xiangfu) and leaves of Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt. (Zisu), is frequently reported with antidepressant-like effects. The volatile oil from Xiangfu and Zisu has shown good antidepressant action, but its mechanism is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the pharmacological mechanism of Xiang-Su (XS) volatile oil against menopausal depression through gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based network pharmacology and metabolomics. First, ADME screening was performed on actual detected components of XS volatile oil to obtain active constituents, and then duplicates of active constituent–related targets and menopausal depression–related targets were collected. These duplicates were considered as targets for XS volatile oil against menopausal depression, followed by GO and KEGG enrichment analyses. It showed that a total of 64 compounds were identified in XS volatile oil, and 38 active compounds were screened out. 42 overlapping genes between 144 compound-related genes and 780 menopausal depression–related genes were obtained. Results showed that targets of SLC6A4 and SLC6A3, regulation of serotonergic and dopaminergic synapses, were involved in the antidepressant mechanism of XS volatile oil. Next, antidepressant-like effect of XS volatile oil was validated in menopausal rats by ovariectomy (OVX) combined with chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). Behavioral tests, biochemical analysis, and GC-MS–based non-targeted plasma metabolomics were employed to validate the antidepressant effect of XS volatile oil. Experimental evidence demonstrated that XS volatile oil reversed behavioral parameters in the sucrose preference test (SPT), open-field test (OFT), forced swim test (FST), and serum estradiol levels in OVX rats. Furthermore, results of metabolomics indicated that XS volatile oil mainly acts on regulating metabolic pathways of phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, tyrosine metabolism, and tryptophan metabolism, which were corresponding with the above-predicted results. These data suggest that network pharmacology combined with metabolomics provides deep insight into the antidepressant effect of XS volatile oil, which includes regulating key targets like SLC6A4 and SLC6A3, and pathways of serotonergic and dopaminergic synapses.