Gonadal hormones shape brain structure across the lifespan. Using dense sampling in two female participants with typical cycles, one with endometriosis, and one using oral contraceptives, we show that distinct hormonal milieus influence widespread, coordinated fluctuations in brain volume across the cycle. These results highlight the importance of looking beyond the ‘typical’ menstrual cycle to understand how hormones drive structural brain plasticity in different conditions.
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References
Rehbein, E., Hornung, J., Sundström Poromaa, I. & Derntl, B. Shaping of the female human brain by sex hormones: a review. Neuroendocrinology 111, 183–206 (2021). A review article that presents evidence on how sex hormones shape female brain structure and function across the lifespan, including menstrual cycle effects.
Heller, C. et al. Why menstrual cycle irregularities belong in brain research. Nat. Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03879-1 (2025). This commentary advocates for the inclusion of individuals with irregular menstrual cycles in neuroscience to better understand female brain health.
Barth, C. et al. In-vivo dynamics of the human hippocampus across the menstrual cycle. Sci. Rep. 6, 1–9 (2016). This paper demonstrates one of the first dense-sampling studies across the menstrual cycle, reporting hippocampal volume changes in relation to hormone fluctuations.
Pritschet, L. et al. Functional reorganization of brain networks across the human menstrual cycle. Neuroimage 220, 117091 (2020). This paper is the first publication from the 28andMe dataset, showing that brain network connectivity changes across the menstrual cycle in synchrony with estradiol levels.
Heller, C. et al. NeuroCycle+. OpenNeuro https://openneuro.org/datasets/ds006491/versions/1.0.0 (2025). The datasets from this study, providing densely sampled MRI and hormone data across multiple individuals, including typical menstrual cycles, endometriosis, and oral contraceptive use, enabling high-resolution analyses of hormone–brain interactions.
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This is a summary of: Heller, C. et al. Hormonal milieu influences whole-brain structural dynamics across the menstrual cycle using dense sampling in multiple individuals. Nat. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02066-2 (2025).
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Estrogen dominance drives distinct patterns of brain plasticity. Nat Neurosci 28, 2413–2414 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02086-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02086-y
