The Impacts of Sex Differences and Sex Hormones on Fear Extinction.

Fear extinction memories are strongly modulated by sex and hormonal status, but the exact mechanisms are still being discovered. In humans, there are some basal and task-related features in which male and female individuals differ in fear conditioning paradigms. However, analyses considering the effects of sex hormones demonstrate a role for estradiol in fear extinction memory consolidation. Translational studies are taking advantage of the convergent findings between species to understand the brain structures implicated. Nevertheless, the human brain is complex and the transfer of these findings into the clinics remains a challenge. The promising advances in the field together with the standardization of fear extinction methodologies in humans will benefit the design of new personalized therapies.