ArticleBiology of sex differences2022
Why the estrous cycle matters for neuroscience.
Article in Biology of sex differences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers.
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Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Multiomic Integration Reveals Novel miRNA-mRNA-Protein Expression Profile in the Aged Female Retina.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
- Application of Machine Learning Models to Identify Differences in Neural Electrophysiological Properties Across Estrous Cycle Phases.Neuroinformatics · 2026Article
- Welfare Assessment of Female BALB/c Mice Housed with Different Environmental Enrichment Materials.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Early-life adversity in rodents: Experimental design is of the essence.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
- Distinct Effects of Nonselective Rho-Kinase Inhibitor Fasudil and Selective Rho-Kinase 2 Inhibitor KD025 on Serotonin and Dopamine Release in the Nucleus Accumbens of Mice.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2026Article
- Twenty years of sex and gender science in health research: a policy statement from the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences.Biology of sex differences · 2026Review
- Molecular Mechanisms of Menstrual Cycle-Related Suicide Risk: A Selective Review of Promising Candidate Systems.Biological psychiatry · 2026Review
- Article
- Characterization of Social and Repetitive Behaviors of Mllt11/Af1q/TcF7c Conditional Knockout Mice.The European journal of neuroscience · 2026Article
- Single-cell map of the female brain across reproductive transitions.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The lateral septum orchestrates state-dependent modulation of associative threat memory dynamics across the ovarian hormone cycle.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The interconnected wirings between medial prefrontal cortex and claustrum and their governing roles in the methamphetamine reward memory in male mice.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Propyl Gallate Attenuates Cognitive Deficits Induced by Chronic Sleep Deprivation Through Nrf2 Activation and NF-κB Inhibition.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Sex differences in the acute effects of cannabis: the need for hypothesis-driven research.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN · 2026Article
- Science policies and practice of including and excluding women from clinical studies: focus on cardiovascular research.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- Restraint stress prolongs Diestrus phase of mouse Estrous cycle.Oxford open neuroscience · 2026Article
- Cerebrolysin Ameliorates Age-Induced Dendritic Spine Degeneration and Memory Decline in C57BL6 Mice.Neurochemical research · 2025Article
- Egr1 is a sex-dependent regulator of neuronal chromatin, structural plasticity, and behaviour.Nature communications · 2025Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOvarian hormone fluctuations over the rodent estrous cycle and the human menstrual cycle are known to significantly impact brain physiology and disease risk, yet this variable is largely ignored in preclinical neuroscience research, clinical studies, and psychiatric practice.
methodsTo assess the importance of the estrous cycle information for the analysis of sex differences in neuroscience research, we re-analyzed our previously published data with or without the estrous cycle information, giving a side-by-side comparison of the analyses of behavior, brain structure, gene expression, and 3D genome organization in female and male mice. We also examined and compared the variance of female and male groups across all neurobehavioral measures.
resultsWe show that accounting for the estrous cycle significantly increases the resolution of the neuroscience studies and allows for: (a) identification of masked sex differences; (b) mechanistic insight(s) into the identified sex differences, across different neurobehavioral outcomes, from behavior to molecular phenotypes. We confirm previous findings that female data from either mixed- or staged-female groups are, on average, not more variable than that of males. However, we show that female variability is not, at all, predictive of whether the estrous cycle plays an important role in regulating the outcome of interest.
conclusionsWe argue that "bringing back" the estrous cycle variable to the main stage is important in order to enhance the resolution and quality of the data, to advance the health of women and other menstruators, and to make research more gender-inclusive. We strongly encourage the neuroscience community to incorporate the estrous cycle information in their study design and data analysis, whenever possible, and we debunk some myths that tend to de-emphasize the importance and discourage the inclusion of this critically important biological variable. Highlights Ovarian hormone fluctuation impacts brain physiology and is a major psychiatric risk factor, yet this variable has been overlooked in neuroscience research and psychiatric practice. From rodent behavior to gene regulation, accounting for the estrous cycle increases the resolution of the neuroscience data, allowing identification and mechanistic insight(s) into sex differences. Female variability does not equal (and is not predictive of) the estrous cycle effect and should not be used as a proxy for the effects of ovarian hormones on the outcome of interest. Neuroscience researchers are advised to incorporate the estrous cycle information in their studies to foster more equitable, female- and gender-inclusive research. Studies of the ovarian cycle are especially important for improving women's mental health.
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