Progesterone and is responsible for approximately 70% of cytochrome P450-mediated progesterone metabolism. Other routes include 6α-, 16α-, and 16β-hydroxylation. However, treatment of women with ketoconazole, a strong CYP3A4 inhibitor, had minimal effects on progesterone levels, producing only a slight and non-significant increase, and this suggests that cytochrome P450 enzymes play only a small role in progesterone metabolism. In women, progesterone levels are relatively low during the preovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle, rise after ovulation, and are elevated during the luteal phase, as shown in diagram below. Progesterone levels tend to be less than 2 ng/mL prior to ovulation, and greater
Menstrual cycle it has been found that women in the follicular phase demonstrated better performance in tasks that contain empathetic traits. Fear response in women during two different points in the menstrual cycle has been examined. When estrogen is highest in the preovulatory stage, women are significantly better at identifying expressions of fear than women who were menstruating, which is when estrogen levels are lowest. The women were equally able to identify happy faces, demonstrating that the fear response was a more powerful response. To summarize, menstrual cycle phase and the estrogen levels correlates with women’s fear processing. However, the examination of