Medicine Grand Rounds, David Rubinow “Reproductive Mood Disorders: This Is Your Brain on Steroids”

Both basic and clinical studies suggest that reproductive steroids regulate virtually every element of neural signaling and do so in a highly context dependent fashion, with contexts including cell type, metabolic profiles, developmental stage/age, sex, environment, past experience, and genotype. Reproductive endocrine-related mood disorders in women (premenstrual dysphoric disorder, perinatal depression, and perimenopausal depression) offer an unparalleled opportunity to understand critical and distinct processes in disorders characterized by affective state dysregulation, namely how they are triggered and what renders some individuals susceptible to the disorders. This presentation will describe how manipulations of the reproductive endocrine system can reveal the role of reproductive steroids in the regulation of affect and suggest the means by which differential sensitivity to reproductive steroids translates into the precipitation of negative affective states.

Dr. David Rubinow is the Assad Meymandi Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry. Prior to joining UNC, he was the Clinical Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Chief of the Behavioral Endocrinology Branch. His research interests focus on neurobehavioral effects of gonadal steroids and how genetic variation contributes to differential behavioral response to changes in steroid signaling. Additionally, the UNC Women’s Mood Disorders Program, which he directs, has the first and only NIH training fellowship in Women’s Mood Disorders. On the basis of his research, he was inducted into the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2012. Dr. Rubinow is also the Director of the UNC Center for Innovation and Health Care System Transformation, which promotes the development of patient-centered innovations designed to address the current challenges facing our nation’s health care delivery system.