Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a neuropsychiatric disorder which displays sex differences in its clinical manifestations, including women presenting with later age at onset, less severe course, and better response to antipsychotics in comparison with men. Estrogen is a steroid hormone which, in addition to its role in females’ reproduction and sex characteristics, contributes to neuroprotection within the central nervous system.

In this context, there is compelling evidence that estrogen has a protective effect in females against the development of neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly SCZ. Estrogen is reported to influence several features of SCZ pathophysiology and to promote the observed sex-difference in the clinical outcomes between males and females. The molecular mechanisms by which estrogen affects SCZ are still largely unknown, but there is evidence that estrogen plays a role in synaptic plasticity, neurogenesis, and neurotransmission, as well as in modulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) burden in the brain [1]. Notably, each of these neurobiological mechanisms is disturbed in the brain of SCZ patients.

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