TY  - JOUR
AU  - Joue, Gina
AU  - Navarro-Schröder, Tobias
AU  - Achtzehn, Johannes
AU  - Moffat, Scott
AU  - Hennies, Nora
AU  - Fuß, Johannes
AU  - Döller, Christian
AU  - Wolbers, Thomas
AU  - Sommer, Tobias
TI  - Effects of estrogen on spatial navigation and memory.
JO  - Psychopharmacology
VL  - 241
IS  - 5
SN  - 0033-3158
CY  - New York, NY
PB  - Springer
M1  - DZNE-2024-00348
SP  - 1037 - 1063
PY  - 2024
AB  - Animal studies suggest that the so-called 'female' hormone estrogen enhances spatial navigation and memory. This contradicts the observation that males generally out-perform females in spatial navigation and tasks involving spatial memory. A closer look at the vast number of studies actually reveals that performance differences are not so clear.To help clarify the unclear performance differences between men and women and the role of estrogen, we attempted to isolate organizational from activational effects of estrogen on spatial navigation and memory.In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we tested the effects of orally administered estradiol valerate (E2V) in healthy, young women in their low-hormone menstrual cycle phase, compared to healthy, young men. Participants performed several first-person, environmentally rich, 3-D computer games inspired by spatial navigation and memory paradigms in animal research.We found navigation behavior suggesting that sex effects dominated any E2 effects with men performing better with allocentric strategies and women with egocentric strategies. Increased E2 levels did not lead to general improvements in spatial ability in either sex but to behavioral changes reflecting navigation flexibility.Estrogen-driven differences in spatial cognition might be better characterized on a spectrum of navigation flexibility rather than by categorical performance measures or skills.
KW  - Animals
KW  - Female
KW  - Humans
KW  - Male
KW  - Estradiol: pharmacology
KW  - Estrogens: pharmacology
KW  - Spatial Memory
KW  - Spatial Navigation
KW  - Double-Blind Method
KW  - Estradiol (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Estrogen (Other)
KW  - Gender differences (Other)
KW  - Sex differences (Other)
KW  - Spatial memory (Other)
KW  - Spatial navigation (Other)
KW  - Estrogens (NLM Chemicals)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C2  - pmc:PMC11031496
C6  - pmid:38407638
DO  - DOI:10.1007/s00213-024-06539-3
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/268844
ER  -