title: Oral contraceptive usage alters the effects of cortisol on implicit fear learning.
abstract: An important feature of the human defense system comprises fear learning, which stress hormones can crucially modulate. However, stress hormones might influence men and women differently, in part because of interactions with sex hormones. In women, distinct stages of the menstrual cycle or the intake of oral contraceptives (OC) affect sex hormone levels. In this study, we used a differential fear conditioning paradigm with electrical stimulation as unconditioned stimulus (UCS) following one neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus, CS+), but not another (CS-).To investigate implicit fear learning, participants were distracted from detecting the contingencies between CS and UCS. To address interaction effects of sex and stress hormones, 32 men, 30 women in the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle (FO), 30 women in the luteal phase (LU), and 30 OC women received either 30 mg cortisol or a placebo. In the contrast CS+ minus CS-, an interaction between cortisol administration and sex hormone status emerged in the anterior parahippocampal gyrus and the hippocampus. Cortisol reduced fear learning in men, FO, and LU women, but enhanced it in OC women. Additionally, cortisol attenuated differential amygdala activation in the entire group. These results demonstrate that OC usage substantially modifies cortisol effects on emotional learning in women, particularly in memory-related medial temporal lobe regions. Further, a high dose of cortisol reduces amygdala differentiation pointing to a lowered learning ability of the defense system under high cortisol concentrations, irrespective of current sex hormone availability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10F, 35394 Giessen, Germany. Christian.J.Merz@psychol.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: Christian Josef
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Merz
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tabbert
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schweckendiek
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Klucken
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vaitl
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.forename: Oliver Tobias
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005239:Fear / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010919:Placebos; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D010919:Placebos; D006854:Hydrocortisone