ArticleFrontiers in neuroscience2020
Menstrual Cycle Variations in Gray Matter Volume, White Matter Volume and Functional Connectivity: Critical Impact on Parietal Lobe.
Article in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- A prospective observational within-person MRI morphometric study comparing ictal and interictal brain volumes in status migrainosus.Neuroimage. Reports · 2026Article
- Brain charts for neuroanatomical sex differences across the human lifespan.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Estradiol, Emotion Regulation, and the Limbic System: Effects on Gray Matter Volume.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Hippocampal tissue mechanics are sensitive to fluctuations in oestrogen across the rat oestrous cycle.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Olfactory perception and wellbeing across hormonal contraceptive users and menstrual cycle phases.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Microglial interferon signaling and Aβ plaque pathology are enhanced in female 5xFAD Alzheimer's disease mice, independent of estrous cycle stage.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- White Matter Regional Volumes in Relation to Menstrual Cycle Phase and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Idiosyncrasy and generalizability of contraceptive- and hormone-related functional connectomes across the menstrual cycle.Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Sex Differences in the Relationship Between Cortical Thickness and Sensory Motor Symptoms in Adults on the Autism Spectrum.Behavioural neurology · 2025Article
- Menstrual cycle-driven hormone concentrations co-fluctuate with white and gray matter architecture changes across the whole brain.Human brain mapping · 2024Article
- Brain white matter alterations in young adult male patients with childhood-onset growth hormone deficiency: a diffusion tensor imaging study.Endocrine · 2024Article
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and the menstrual cycle: Theory and evidence.Hormones and behavior · 2024Review
- Biomarkers for rapid H-reflex operant conditioning among females.Journal of neurophysiology · 2023Article
- Bariatric surgery and its impact on depressive symptoms, cognition, brain and inflammation.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Hormone-based models for comparing menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive effects on human resting-state functional connectivity.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- Gray Matter Volume Variability in Young Healthy Adults: Influence of Gender Difference and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Genotype.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2022Article
- Brain responses to painful electrical stimuli and cognitive tasks interact in the precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, and inferior parietal cortex and do not vary across the menstrual cycle.Brain and behavior · 2022Article
- Ovarian steroid hormones: A long overlooked but critical contributor to brain aging and Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Review
- Long-interval intracortical inhibition in primary motor cortex related to working memory in middle-aged adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Intersite brain MRI volumetric biases persist even in a harmonized multisubject study of multiple sclerosis.Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of NeuroimagingArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The role of gonadal hormones in neural plasticity remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the effects of naturally fluctuating hormone levels over the menstrual cycle in healthy females. Gray matter, functional connectivity (FC) and white matter changes over the cycle were assessed by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), resting state fMRI, and structural MRIs, respectively, and associated with serum gonadal hormone levels. Moreover, electrocutaneous sensitivity was evaluated in 14 women in four phases of their menstrual cycle (menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, and luteal). Electrocutaneous sensitivity was greater during follicular compared to menstrual phase. Additionally, pain unpleasantness was lower in follicular phase than other phases while pain intensity ratings did not change over the cycle. Significant variations in cycle phase effects on gray matter volume were found in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) using voxel-based morphometry. Subsequent Freesurfer analysis revealed greater thickness of left IPL during the menstrual phase when compared to other phases. Also, white matter volume fluctuated across phases in left IPL. Blood estradiol was positively correlated with white matter volume both in left parietal cortex and whole cortex. Seed-driven FC between left IPL and right secondary visual cortex was enhanced during ovulatory phase. A seed placed in right IPL revealed enhanced FC between left and right IPL during the ovulatory phase. Additionally, we found that somatosensory cortical gray matter was thinner during follicular compared to menstrual phase. We discuss these results in the context of likely evolutionary pressures selecting for enhanced perceptual sensitivity across modalities specifically during ovulation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.