Psychoneuroendocrinology
Volume 33, Issue 8 , Pages 1124-1131 , September 2008

Progesterone reduces wakefulness in sleep EEG and has no effect on cognition in healthy postmenopausal women

  • P. Schüssler

      Affiliations

    • Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, D-80804 Munich, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +49 89 30622 347; fax: +49 89 30622 552.
    • ,
  • M. Kluge

      Affiliations

    • Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, D-80804 Munich, Germany
    • ,
  • A. Yassouridis

      Affiliations

    • Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, D-80804 Munich, Germany
    • ,
  • M. Dresler

      Affiliations

    • Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, D-80804 Munich, Germany
    • ,
  • K. Held

      Affiliations

    • Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, D-80804 Munich, Germany
    • ,
  • J. Zihl

      Affiliations

    • Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, D-80804 Munich, Germany
    • Ludwig Maximilians University, Department of Psychology, Neuropsychology, Munich, Germany
    • ,
  • A. Steiger

      Affiliations

    • Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstrasse 2-10, D-80804 Munich, Germany

Received 21 January 2008 ,Revised 17 May 2008 ,Accepted 23 May 2008.

References 

  1. Andersen ML, Bittencourt LRA, Antunes IB, Tufik S. Effects of progesterone on sleep: a possible pharmacological treatment for sleep-breathing disorders?. Curr. Med. Chem. 2006;13(29):3575–3582
  2. Bateson AN. Basic pharmacologic mechanisms involved in benzodiazepine tolerance and withdrawal. Curr. Pharm. Des. 2002;8(1):5–21
  3. Belelli D, Lambert JJ. Neurosteroids: endogenous regulators of the GABA(A) receptor. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 2005;6(7):565–575
  4. Birzniece V, Bäckstrom T, Johannson I, Lindblad C, Lundgren P, Löfgren M, et al. Neuroactive steroid effects on cognitive functions with a focus on the serotonin and GABA systems. Brain Res. Rev. 2006;51(2):212–239
  5. Bliwise DL. Sleep in normal aging and dementia. Sleep. 1993;16:40–81
  6. Brickenkamp, R., 1978. Test d2 Handanweisung [Test d2 Manual]. Hogrefe, Göttingen.
  7. Damianisch K, Rupprecht R, Lancel M. The influence of subchronic administration of the neurosteroid allopregnanolone on the sleep in the rat. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2001;25(4):576–584
  8. Driver HS, Baker FC. Menstrual factors in sleep. Sleep Med. Rev. 1998;2(4):213–229
  9. Dzaja A, Arber S, Hislop J, Kerkhofs M, Kopp C, Pollmächer T, et al. Women's sleep in health and disease. J. Psychiatry Res. 2005;39:55–76
  10. Ehlers CL, Kupfer DJ. Slow-wave sleep: do young adult men and women age differently?. J. Sleep Res. 1997;6:211–215
  11. Eichling PS, Sahni J. Menopause related sleep disorders. J. Clin. Sleep Med. 2005;1(3):291–300
  12. Ellis BW, Johns MW, Lancaster R, Raptopoulos P, Angelopoulos N, Priest RG. The St. Mary's Hospital sleep questionnaire: a study of reliability. Sleep. 1981;4:93–97
  13. Feinberg I. Changes in sleep cycle patterns with age. J. Psychiatry Res. 1974;10:283–306
  14. Friess E, Tagaya H, Trachsel L, Holsboer F, Rupprecht R. Progesterone-induced changes in sleep in male subjects. Am. J. Physiol. 1997;272:E885–E891
  15. Grön G, Friess E, Herpers M, Rupprecht R. Assessment of cognitive performance after progesterone administration in healthy male volunteers. Neuropsychobiology. 1997;35:147–151
  16. Herd MB, Belelli D, Lambert JJ. Neurosteroid modulation of synaptic and extrasynaptic GABA(A) receptors. Pharmacol. Ther. 2007;116(1):20–34
  17. Heuser G, Ling GM, Kluver M. Sleep induction by progesterone in the pre-optic area in cats. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1967;22:122–127
  18. Hogervorst E, Yaffe K, Richards M, Huppert F. Hormone replacement therapy to maintain cognitive function in women with dementia. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 2002;3:CD003799
  19. Kimura M. Minireview: Gender-specific sleep regulation. Sleep Biol. Rhythms. 2005;3:75–79
  20. Kratzmeier, H., Horn, R., 1980. Raven-Matrizen-Text—APM. Beltz, Weinheim.
  21. Lancel M, Faulhaber J, Holsboer F, Rupprecht R. Progesterone induces changes in sleep comparable to those of agonistic GABAA receptor modulators. Am. J. Physiol. 1996;271:E763–E772
  22. Lancel M, Faulhaber J, Schiffelholz T, Romeo E, Dimichele F, Holsboer F, et al. Allopregnanolone affects sleep in a benzodiazepine-like fashion. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 1997;282:1213–1218
  23. Maki PM, Gast MJ, Vieweg AJ, Burriss SW, Yaffe K. Hormone therapy in menopausal women with cognitive complaints: a randomised, double-blind trial. Neurology. 2007;69(13):1322–1330
  24. Moe KE. Hot flashes and sleep in women. Sleep Med. Rev. 2004;8(6):487–497
  25. Moline ML, Broch L, Zak R, Gross V. Sleep in women across the life cycle from adulthood through menopause. Sleep Med. Rev. 2003;7:155–177
  26. Montplaisir J, Lorrain J, Denesle R, Petit D. Sleep in menopause: differential effects of two forms of hormone replacement therapy. Menopause. 2001;8:10–16
  27. NIH State-of-the-Science Statements . NIH State-of-the-Science Conference Statement on management of menopause-related symptoms. NIH Consens State Sci. Statements. 2005;22:1–38
  28. Nilsen J, Brinton RD. Impact of progestins on estrogen-induced neuroprotection: synergy by progesterone and 19-norprogesterone and antagonism by medroxyprogesterone acetate. Endocrinology. 2002;143(1):205–212
  29. Oswald WD, Roth E. Der Zahlen-Verbindungs-Test. Göttingen: Hogrefe; 1978;
  30. Polo-Kantola P, Erkkola R, Irjala K, Pulinen S, Virtanen I, Polo O. Effect of short-term transdermal estrogen replacement therapy on sleep: a randomised, double-blind crossover trial in postmenopausal women. Fertil. Steril. 1999;71(5):873–880
  31. Prinz PN, Vitaliano PP, Vitiello MV, Bokan J, Raskind M, Peskind E, et al. Sleep, EEG and mental function changes in senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type. Neurobiol. Aging. 1982;3:361–370
  32. Rechtschaffen A, Kales A. A Manual of Standardized Terminology, Techniques and Scoring System for Sleep Stages of Human Subjects. Bethesda, MD: US Department of Health, Education & Welfare, Neurological Information Network; 1968;
  33. Rupprecht R, Reul JM, Trapp T, van SB, Wetzel C, Damm K, et al. Progesterone receptor-mediated effects of neuroactive steroids. Neuron. 1993;11:523–530
  34. Rupprecht R. Neuroactive steroids: mechanisms of action and neuropsychopharmacological properties. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2003;28(2):139–168Review
  35. Saaresranta T, Aittokallio T, Polo-Kantola P, Helenius H, Polo O. Effect of medroxyprogesterone on inspiratory flow shapes during sleep in postmenopausal women. Respir. Physiol. Neurobiol. 2003;134(2):131–143
  36. Saaresranta T, Aittokallio T, Utriainen K, Polo O. Medroxyprogesterone improves nocturnal breathing in postmenopausal women with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Respir. Res. 2005;6:28
  37. Selye H. Correlations between the chemical structure and the pharmacological actions of the steroids. Endocrinology. 1942;30:437–452
  38. Sloan JA, Loprinzi CL, Novotny PJ, Barton DL, Lavasseur BI, Windschitl H. Methodologic lessons learned from hot flash studies. J. Clin. Oncol. 2001;19:4280–4290
  39. Strous RD, Maayan R, Weizman A. The relevance of neurosteroids to clinical psychiatry: from the laboratory to the bedside. Eur. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2006;16(3):155–169
  40. Thomson J, Oswald I. Effect of oestrogen on the sleep, mood, and anxiety of menopausal women. Br. Med. J. 1977;2:1317–1319
  41. Wechsler D. WSM-R: Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised (Manual). San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation; 1987;
  42. Wolf OT, Heinrich AB, Hanstein B, Kirschbaum C. Estradiol or estradiol/progesterone treatment in older women: no strong effects on cognition. Neurobiol. Aging. 2005;26(7):1029–1033

PII: S0306-4530(08)00137-6

doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.05.013

Psychoneuroendocrinology
Volume 33, Issue 8 , Pages 1124-1131 , September 2008

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution