Does the Brain Ebb and Flow with our Hormonal Cycles?
A research project striving to understand the interaction between hormonal cycles and cognitive function in female physiology.
Project Type
Tags
Project Title
"Oestrous Cycle-Dependent Modulation of Cortical & Hippocampal Neuronal Activity"
Data Acquisition
Brain activity recorded using chronic Neuropixels probe implants in the visual cortex and hippocampus of female mouse models. Monitored cycle stages using vaginal cell sample histologies.
An Overview
Plato believed that pre-menstrual distress experienced by those assigned female at birth (AFAB) was caused by the “mourning womb”.
Historically, case studies have reported monthly occurring symptoms in females such as intensified seizures in epileptic patients. Similarly, reproductive cycles in females from other mammalian species, such as mice and their oestrous cycle, have been found to induce changes in appetite and sociosexual behaviours.
Unfortunately, such variability in behaviour and cognitive function has become a reason to exclude females from neuroscience research.
There is a large knowledge gap regarding how these cycles may affect neuronal mechanisms and activity that underlie information processing in the brain. In this study, we presented visual stimuli to female mice and assessed how neuronal activity in the brain related to oestrous cycle stages.
There were no oestrous cycle-dependent changes in brain activity. Differences in brain activity were primarily due to individual variability. Such findings motivate scientists to question if the oestrous cycle impacts brain activity in specific behavioural contexts. It also encourages future studies to include females in research, whilst accounting for mouse-to-mouse variability and what aspects of individuality may be giving rise to such differences in brain activity.