Normal control subjects were required to have a mean SIGH-SAD score <8 and a mean BDI score <5. We based diagnosis of PMDD subjects, in part, on daily mood ratings showing symptoms of major depression in proximity to menstruation for two consecutive menstrual cycles.54 We studied menstruating women twice, once in the follicular and once in the luteal menstrual Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical phase, one full cycle apart, based on the time of the mid-cycle luteinizing hormone (LH) surge using a eoiorimetric urinary immunoassay (Clearblue® colorimetric LH assay, Princeton, New Jersey) to document ovulation. (We report here only the data from the luteal phase, the time period when PMDD symptoms

appear.) Finally, three of 21 NC women were perimenopausal, with irregular menses for at least 1 year; the remaining NC women were postmenopausal, being without menses for at least 1 year. One depressed woman was perimenopausal; the remaining 10 depressed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical women were postmenopausal, without menses for at least

1 year, who met DSM-IV criteria for a major depressive episode.55 To confirm verbal reports, postmenopausal status was also verified by FSH > Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 40 mlU/mL at the time of testing. Procedure Women who met entrance criteria were admitted to the University of California San Diego (UCSD) General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at 16:00 h. Following one night of adaptation to the sleep room, licensed nurses inserted an intravenous catheter at 17:00 h. and drew blood (3 cc) every 30 min from 18:00 h to 11:00 h. for measurement of hormone levels (reported elsewhere). To minimize sleep disturbances, nurses withdrew blood samples from an adjacent room, through an intravenous catheter Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical connected to a tube threaded through a porthole in the wall. Serum for E2 and P4 was obtained at 18:00 h and again at 6:00 h. Participants remained on bed rest in a single room with double doors, with windows covered with heavy Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical drapery to block extraneous light from entering

between 16:00 h and 11:00 h. Nurses or sleep technicians entered the room only when necessary (recorded by infrared camera), using a pen-sized dim red flashlight. Sleep measures Sleep studies were conducted during two consecutive nights in the J. Christian Gillin Laboratory Histone demethylase of Sleep and Chronobiology. The first night was used to Sorafenib concentration acclimate subjects to the sleep laboratory environment and to rule out intrinsic sleep disorders other than insomnia. We analyzed sleep measures only from the second, postadaptation night. (Women studied during the menstrual cycle had adaptation nights before both the follicular and luteal phase measurements. This report includes only the data from the luteal phase.) Subjects were required to be in bed by 22:00 and were allowed to sleep and awaken at their habitual wake time. The recording montage consisted of a minimum 10 electrophysiologic signals.