Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a medical condition that affect many of women of early age. PMS can cause a variety of physical and psychological symptoms that occur just before your menstrual period. Up to 80% of menstruating women experience PMS symptoms that are anxiety, irritability, vomiting, fatigue, and depression. PMS usually begins 4 to 10 days before menstruation and completes before period start. However, some of case, symptoms may persist until the end of menstruation. Around 5% of PMS experiencing women has severe symptom so they need anti-depressant or PMS related medication.
People have thought the cause of PMS seems to be related to the fluctuating levels of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone that are essential hormones in preparation for menstruation.
Recently, researchers from the National Institutes for Health (NIH) have shown that PMS causes gene alteration which subsequently affect hormone fluctuation. Some of genes are actively increased whereas others become quiet. What they did in this paper is that they checked white blood cells from women who suffer severe PMS and compared them with the white blood cells from those who never suffer symptoms. This group stated that gene expression pattern of white blood cells is same as those of brain cells, so studying white blood cells can provide evidence what is happening in the brain.
They found interesting circuit of genes called ESC/E(Z) complex which can alter when they are exposed to elevated estrogen. Unlike women who never suffer PMS, ESC/E(Z) gene are dysregulated from women who experiences severe PMS. Dr. Peter Schmidt, of the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health, pointed out that we found oddly inactive gene complex which indicate PMS is a disorder of cellular response to estrogen and progesterone. “Learning more about the role of this gene complex holds hope for improved treatment of such prevalent reproductive endocrine-related mood disorder.”
From this first time gene study, they have proved that severe PMS is not just simple mood swing problem but their whole biology related issues which indicate rising cure for women who suffer from severe PMS in future.