Melanie Eversley

USA TODAY

The discovery of molecular mechanisms that could be responsible for symptoms of a severe form of premenstrual syndrome could mean that new treatments are possible.

The discovery by researchers at the National Institutes of Health was reported in the Jan. 3 edition of the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, causes severe irratability, sadness and anxiety. It affects 2% to 5% of women of child-bearing age, according to the NIH.

This research is important because it shows that women battling PMDD have an "intrinsic difference in their molecular apparatus for response to sex hormones," said David Goldman of the NIH National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Experimentally turning off estrogen and progesterone in test subjects made the symptoms disappear, while turning the hormones back on made the symptoms return, according to NIH.

The discovery contributes to evidence that PMDD occurs with cellular response to estrogen and progesterone, said Peter Schmidt of the NIH National Institute of Mental Health, Behavioral Endocrinology Branch.

Learning more about a suspected gene complex involved gives hope for improved treatment, he said.

"For the first time, we now have cellular evidence of abnormal signaling in cells derived from women with PMDD, and a plausible biological cause for their abnormal behvioral sensitivity to estrogen and progesterone," Schmidt said.

PMDD can be disabling, and can affect a person's performance at work and damage relationships, according to the Mayo Clinic.