101
|
Hodgetts S, Weis S, Hausmann M. Sex hormones affect language lateralisation but not cognitive control in normally cycling women. Horm Behav 2015; 74:194-200. [PMID: 26145565 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.06.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2015] [Revised: 06/27/2015] [Accepted: 06/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
This article is part of a Special Issue "Estradiol and Cognition". Natural fluctuations of sex hormones during the menstrual cycle have been shown to modulate language lateralisation. Using the dichotic listening (DL) paradigm, a well-established measurement of language lateralisation, several studies revealed that the left hemispheric language dominance was stronger when levels of estradiol were high. A recent study (Hjelmervik et al., 2012) showed, however, that high levels of follicular estradiol increased lateralisation only in a condition that required participants to cognitively control (top-down) the stimulus-driven (bottom-up) response. This finding suggested that sex hormones modulate lateralisation only if cognitive control demands are high. The present study investigated language lateralisation in 73 normally cycling women under three attention conditions that differed in cognitive control demands. Saliva estradiol and progesterone levels were determined by luminescence immunoassays. Women were allocated to a high or low estradiol group. The results showed a reduced language lateralisation when estradiol and progesterone levels were high. The effect was independent of the attention condition indicating that estradiol marginally affected cognitive control. The findings might suggest that high levels of estradiol especially reduce the stimulus-driven (bottom-up) aspect of lateralisation rather than top-down cognitive control.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Hodgetts
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
| | - Susanne Weis
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
| | - Markus Hausmann
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
102
|
Arélin K, Mueller K, Barth C, Rekkas PV, Kratzsch J, Burmann I, Villringer A, Sacher J. Progesterone mediates brain functional connectivity changes during the menstrual cycle-a pilot resting state MRI study. Front Neurosci 2015; 9:44. [PMID: 25755630 PMCID: PMC4337344 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2015.00044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2014] [Accepted: 02/01/2015] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The growing interest in intrinsic brain organization has sparked various innovative approaches to generating comprehensive connectivity-based maps of the human brain. Prior reports point to a sexual dimorphism of the structural and functional human connectome. However, it is uncertain whether subtle changes in sex hormones, as occur during the monthly menstrual cycle, substantially impact the functional architecture of the female brain. Here, we performed eigenvector centrality (EC) mapping in 32 longitudinal resting state fMRI scans of a single healthy subject without oral contraceptive use, across four menstrual cycles, and assessed estrogen and progesterone levels. To investigate associations between cycle-dependent hormones and brain connectivity, we performed correlation analyses between the EC maps and the respective hormone levels. On the whole brain level, we found a significant positive correlation between progesterone and EC in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and bilateral sensorimotor cortex. In a secondary region-of-interest analysis, we detected a progesterone-modulated increase in functional connectivity of both bilateral DLPFC and bilateral sensorimotor cortex with the hippocampus. Our results suggest that the menstrual cycle substantially impacts intrinsic functional connectivity, particularly in brain areas associated with contextual memory-regulation, such as the hippocampus. These findings are the first to link the subtle hormonal fluctuations that occur during the menstrual cycle, to significant changes in regional functional connectivity in the hippocampus in a longitudinal design, given the limitation of data acquisition in a single subject. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of such a longitudinal Resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) design and illustrates a means of creating a personalized map of the human brain by integrating potential mediators of brain states, such as menstrual cycle phase.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Katrin Arélin
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Germany ; Clinic of Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig Leipzig, Germany ; Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig Leipzig, Germany
| | - Karsten Mueller
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Germany
| | - Claudia Barth
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Germany
| | - Paraskevi V Rekkas
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Research Imaging Centre and Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Jürgen Kratzsch
- Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, Institute for Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital Leipzig Leipzig, Germany
| | - Inga Burmann
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Germany
| | - Arno Villringer
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Germany ; Clinic of Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig Leipzig, Germany ; Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig Leipzig, Germany ; Integrated Research and Treatment Center Adiposity Diseases, University of Leipzig Leipzig, Germany ; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Mind and Brain Institute, Humboldt University Berlin Berlin, Germany
| | - Julia Sacher
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Germany ; Clinic of Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
103
|
Amygdala/hippocampal activation during the menstrual cycle: Evidence for lateralization of effects across different tasks. Neuropsychologia 2015; 67:55-62. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2014] [Revised: 12/01/2014] [Accepted: 12/02/2014] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
|