Menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive use modulate human brain structure

Pletzer, Belinda; Kronbichler, Martin; Aichhorn, Markus; Bergmann, Jürgen; Ladurner, G.; Kerschbaum, Hubert

doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2010.06.019

Cited by 177 publications

(150 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The authors discuss these neural changes in relation emotional processing in women across the menstrual cycle. The results of two other studies applying VBM (Pletzer et al, 2010;Protopopescu et al, 2008) are in line with findings from the animal literature. Both studies show evidence for structural changes in the hippocampal formation during the menstrual cycle.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Both studies show evidence for structural changes in the hippocampal formation during the menstrual cycle. Pletzer et al (2010) found an increase in a right fusiform/ parahippocampal gyrus region of interest (ROI) during the early follicular (low hormonal) phase, compared to the mid-luteal (high hormonal) phase. In contrast Protopopescu et al (2008) found a right hippocampal GM increase during the peak estrogen late follicular phase, compared to the late luteal (low hormonal) phase.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following up on the studies by Pletzer et al (2010) and Protopopescu et al (2008), we expected that the hippocampus is especially sensitive to hormonal variation. To test this assumption most conservatively, we applied whole-brain voxel based comparisons that are uninfluenced by our a priori hypotheses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hippocampal volume and functional connectivity changes during the female menstrual cycle

et al. 2015

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Hippocampal volume has been shown to be sensitive to variations in estrogen and progesterone levels across rodents' estrous cycle. However, little is known about the covariation of hormone levels and brain structure in the course of the human menstrual cycle. Here, we examine this covariation with a multi-method approach that includes several brain imaging methods and hormonal assessments. We acquired structural and functional scans from 21 naturally cycling women on four time points during their cycles (early follicular phase, late follicular phase, ovulation and luteal phase). Hormone blood concentrations and cognitive performance in different domains were assessed on each of the measurement occasions. Structural MRI images were processed by means of whole-brain voxel-based morphometry and FreeSurfer. With either method, bilateral increases in hippocampal volume were found in the late follicular phase relative to the early follicular phase. The gray matter probability in regions of hippocampal volume increase was associated with lower mean diffusivity in the same region. In addition, we observed higher functional connectivity between the hippocampi and the bilateral superior parietal lobe in the late follicular phase. We did not find any reliable cycle-related performance variations on the cognitive tasks. The present results show that hormonal fluctuations covary with hippocampal structure and function in the course of the human menstrual cycle.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hippocampal volume and functional connectivity changes during the female menstrual cycle

et al. 2015

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“…Throughout the cycle, the ovaries produce successively increasing levels of oestradiol and progesterone (Goodman & Inskeep 2006), concomitant with changes in functional cerebral asymmetries which are potentially due to variations in functional connectivity . These hormonal variations during the menstrual cycle or caused by hormonal contraceptives affect the volumes of grey matter (Pletzer et al 2010) and modify the activation induced by negative emotion in the amygdala and hippocampus as demonstrated by fMRI (Andreano & Cahill 2010), and hormonal variations also affect food perception in interaction with feeding disorders (Van Vugt 2010). These data have been obtained under clinical conditions and it is clearly impossible to extend these human studies for obvious ethical reasons.…”

Section: Reproductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

MRI Techniques and New Animal Models for Imaging the Brain

Chaillou¹,

Tillet²,

Andersson³

2012

When Things Go Wrong - Diseases and Disorders of the Human Brain

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“…To resolve inconsistencies in reported sex differences in human brain structure Pletzer and her group (Pletzer et al 2010) obtained high resolution structural images of the brains of fourteen young healthy men, fourteen young healthy women who did not use hormonal contraception, and fourteen women who used contraception. The women who were cycling naturally were scanned in mid-follicular and midluteal cycle phases, while the contraceptive users and the men were scanned once.…”

Section: The Impact Of Contraceptive Steroids On Brain Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Effects of Contraceptive Steroid Hormones

Klaus

Cortés

2015

Linacre Q

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Governments and society have accepted and enthusiastically promoted contraception, especially contraceptive steroid hormones, as the means of assuring optimal timing and number of births, an undoubted health benefit, but they seldom advert to their limitations and side effects. This article reviews the literature on the psychological, social, and spiritual impact of contraceptive steroid use. While the widespread use of contraceptive steroid hormones has expanded life style and career choices for many women, their impact on the women's well-being, emotions, social relationships, and spirituality is seldom mentioned by advocates, and negative effects are often downplayed. When mentioned at all, depression and hypoactive sexual desire are usually treated symptomatically rather than discontinuing their most frequent pharmacological cause, the contraceptive. The rising incidence of premarital sex and cohabitation and decreased marriage rates parallel the use of contraceptive steroids as does decreased church attendance and/or reduced acceptance of Church teaching among Catholics.Lay summary: While there is wide, societal acceptance of hormonal contraceptives to space births, their physical side effects are often downplayed and their impact on emotions and life styles are largely unexamined. Coincidental to the use of "the pill" there has been an increase in depression, low sexual desire, "hook-ups," cohabitation, delay of marriage and childbearing, and among Catholics, decreased church attendance and reduced religious practice. Fertility is not a disease. Birth spacing can be achieved by natural means, and the many undesirable effects of contraception avoided.

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Menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive use modulate human brain structure

Cited by 177 publications

References 27 publications

Hippocampal volume and functional connectivity changes during the female menstrual cycle

Hippocampal volume and functional connectivity changes during the female menstrual cycle

MRI Techniques and New Animal Models for Imaging the Brain

Psychological, Social, and Spiritual Effects of Contraceptive Steroid Hormones

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