Taken together, these experiments lead to a better understanding of
the primary mechanisms through which estrogens enhance fear generalization.
We demonstrated that estradiol, through activation of ERβ enhances
fear generalization by modulating fear memory retrieval
mechanisms. Future studieswill determine the precisemechanisms underlying
how estrogens increase fear generalization, which may help
explain the discrepancy in prevalence rates for anxiety disorders seen
betweenmales and females and is crucial for developingmore effective
treatments for anxiety disorders such as PTSD.