Gray matter differences associated with age and sex hormone levels between premenopausal and perimenopausal women, a voxel‐based morphometry study

Abstract

Purpose

To explore brain morphological alterations associated with age and sex hormone levels between premenopausal and perimenopausal women using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T₁‐weighted structural images.

Materials and Methods

Thirty‐two premenopausal women with a mean age of 47.75 years (S.D. = 1.55 years) and twenty‐five recently perimenopausal women with a mean age of 51.60 years (S.D. = 1.63 years) were evaluated for sex hormone levels, including prolactin (PRL), follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), free testosterone (free‐T), and progesterone (P). A 3.0 Tesla MRI scanner was utilized to acquire T₁ images. Voxel‐based morphometry (VBM) was used to evaluate changes in gray matter volume between the two groups. The general linear model was applied with false discovery rate (FDR) correction for between group voxel‐wise statistics. Spearman partial correlation analyses were conducted between age, sex hormone levels and regions of gray matter volume showing significant differences between the two groups.

Results

Compared with premenopausal women, perimenopausal women showed decreased gray matter volume in the left putamen, right pallidum, right inferior parietal gyrus (IPG), right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) (orbital part) and right postcentral gyrus (PG) (p < 0.05, FDR corrected). The gray matter volume in the left putamen and right pallidum were negatively correlated with age among the 57 enrolled women. The levels of FSH and LH were positively correlated with gray matter volume changes in the right pallidum.

Conclusion

The VBM analysis revealed that age and menopause per se lead to gray matter volume reduction in certain brain structures. These structural changes might be potential causes of sexual dysfunction, nervous system degeneration and depression, which need to be examined in future studies. Our findings might provide evidence and guide future research in understanding the menopausal transition.

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