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Principal Investigator: Vasiliki Michopoulos
Organization: EMORY UNIVERSITY
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $743,261
Funding agency: National Institute of Mental Health
Summary
The cumulative rate of repeated trauma exposure is greater in Black communities of urban, low socioeconomic
status and is associated with increased prevalence of adverse, posttraumatic mental health outcomes,
including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is associated with trauma-related hyperarousal (TRH)
and dysregulated fear responses that are dependent upon brain regions that modulate responses to threat,
including the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. One biological factor that confers increased
risk for TRH is female sex. While rigorous studies have shown that low levels of the steroid hormone estradiol
(E2) are associated with increased risk for TRH and hyper-sensitivity to threat in trauma-exposed women,
these prior studies compared women who naturally differed from one another in E2 levels regardless of
reproductive status/stage. Thus, further work is needed to determine how changes in E2 over the menopausal
transition increase vulnerability to TRH and hyper-reactivity to threat in trauma-exposed women. The current
study is well positioned to address this gap in knowledge given our recruitment of perimenopausal Black
women from a high trauma risk population. The proposed research will combine clinical interviews, fear
psychophysiology, neuroimaging, and neuroendocrinology to examine how the perimenopause and changes in
E2 levels over time influence TRH and responsivity to threat. Investigating how neuroendocrine changes
during the menopausal transition influence fear psychophysiology and amygdala reactivity to threat to impact
TRH is critical for the identification, assessment, and treatment of these symptoms during the perimenopause
in women, especially Black women, who experience disproportionately higher rates of cumulative trauma
exposure and PTSD.
Terms: <Acute><Address><Age><Allergy><Amygdala><Amygdaloid Body><Amygdaloid Nucleus><Amygdaloid structure><Aquadiol><Biologic Factor><Biological Factors><Black><Black race><Blood><Blood Reticuloendothelial System><Brain region><Clinical><Data><Development><Dimenformon><Diogyn><Diogynets><Emotional Depression><Epigenetic><Epigenetic Change><Epigenetic Mechanism><Epigenetic Process><Estrace><Estradiol><Estradiol-17 beta><Estradiol-17beta><Estraldine><Extinction><Face><Fear><Female><Fright><Functional MRI><Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging><Goals><Gonadotropins><Hormonal><Hormonal Change><Hospitals><Hypersensitivity><Interview><Knowledge><Link><Mental Health><Mental Hygiene><Neurobiology><Neuroendocrine><Neuroendocrine System><Neuroendocrinology><Neurosecretory Systems><Outcome><Ovarian Steroid Hormone><Ovocyclin><Ovocylin><PTSD><Perimenopausal><Perimenopause><Physiologic Psychology><Physiological Psychology><Population><Position><Positioning Attribute><Post-Traumatic Neuroses><Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders><Posttraumatic Neuroses><Pre-Menopause><Pre-menopausal Period><Prefrontal Cortex><Premenopausal><Premenopausal Period><Premenopause><Prevalence><Process><Progynon><Psychological Health><Psychopathology><Psychophysiological><Psychophysiology><Research><Risk><Stimulus><Structure><Symptoms><Testing><Therapeutic Estradiol><Therapeutic Steroid Hormone><Time><Trauma><Urban Community><Variant><Variation><Woman><Work><abnormal psychology><accelerated epigenetic age><accelerated epigenetic aging><accelerated pace of epigenetic aging><acceleration in epigenetic age><ages><amygdaloid nuclear complex><anxiety symptoms><anxious symptom><black female><black women><conditioned fear><death risk><depression symptom><depressive><depressive symptoms><developmental><epigenetically><experience><exposure to trauma><fMRI><faces><facial><faster epigenetic aging><faster rates of epigenetic aging><fear conditioning><increased epigenetic age><increased epigenetic aging><increased rates of epigenetic aging><life span><lifespan><low SES><low socio-economic position><low socio-economic status><low socioeconomic position><low socioeconomic status><menopause transition><mood symptom><mortality><mortality risk><neural imaging><neuro-imaging><neurobiological><neuroimaging><neurological imaging><peri-menopausal><peri-menopause><physiopsychology><post-trauma stress disorder><posttrauma stress disorder><pre-menopausal><premenopausal status><psycho-physiological><psychologic><psychological><rapid epigenetic aging><recruit><reproductive><response><sex><socio-economic><socio-economically><socioeconomically><socioeconomics><steroid hormone><symptom treatment><symptomatic treatment><transition to menopause><transitional menopause><trauma exposure><traumatic neurosis><treat symptom>