Estrogen receptors, mainly ERβ type, are commonly found in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) neurons, an important nucleus related to anxiety modulation and the primary source of serotonin (5-HT) in the brain.
This study aimed to evaluate if gender and genetic polymorphisms in estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) and beta (ESR2) are associated with anxiety levels in patients undergoing orthognathic surgery.
We found nominally significant main effects on sexual desire for three ESR2 -linked SNPs when controlled for anxiety, suggesting that individuals homozygous for the G allele of the rs1271572 SNP, and the A allele of the rs4986938 and rs928554 SNPs had lower levels of sexual desire.
ERβ agonists are being considered for preventing progression of cancer, treatment of anxiety and depression, as anti-inflammatory agents and as agents, which prevent or reduce the severity of neurodegenerative diseases.
This study investigated whether ESR1 and ESR2 gene variants were associated with specific anxiety disorders in postmenopausal women and evaluated the potential modifying effect of hormone treatment (HT) on these associations.