Brain Gray Matter Decline Pauses During Menopause Transition, Study Reveals
A new study published in Nature Communications indicates that the gradual decline in brain gray matter, a normal part of aging, temporarily pauses during the transition to menopause. Researchers analyzed MRI scans from over 1,000 girls and women, comparing brain changes across puberty, pregnancy, and menopause. While gray matter volume typically shrinks during puberty and pregnancy, reflecting neural fine-tuning, the study found a unique stability during late perimenopause. This pause in decline then resumes in postmenopausal women. Study co-author Sophie van't Hof, a doctoral student at Amsterdam University Medical Center, noted that factors like hormone replacement therapy or the number of children did not significantly impact these results. The research provides the first direct longitudinal comparison of brain structural changes across these major female hormonal transitions.
