Neuroendocrine parameters
We collected blood samples before the treatments and after the fMRI (approx. 4.5 h after gel administration) to measure the concentrations of the hormones EST, OXT, testosterone, and progesterone. At baseline, women had significantly higher EST concentrations (The ESTAs an additional control analysis, we used a median-dichotomization and excluded ESTOXTTo examine whether the OXT and EST baseline values, as well as changes in OXT and EST levels affected neural treatment effects, we included the baseline values and the hormonal changes (after treatment minus baseline) as separate covariates in the analyses and all observed sex * treatment interactions remained significant.