Endogenous Estrogens and Brain Activation During Verbal Memory Encoding and Recognition in the Postmenopause
Authors' conclusion
The function of brain areas critical to memory performance varies with estrogen levels in the postmenopause, even though those levels are low. Higher levels of E2 may facilitate memory performance through enhanced function of temporal and frontal cortices during encoding of verbal material.
Study context
- Population
- Postmenopausal women in the MsBrain cohort; mean age 59.3 ± 3.9 years, 83.9% White
- Participants
- 199 women
- Outcome
- Associations of serum E2 and E1 (LC-MS/MS) with brain activation during an fMRI verbal memory task of word encoding and recognition
Methodological detailsFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), MsBrain cohort
- fMRI
- MsBrain cohort
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Brain activation during verbal memory fMRI task
- E2 positively associated with activation in temporal and frontal cortices during encoding and negatively with one prefrontal region during recognition
- P < .05
- E1 positively associated with activation in a range of brain areas incl. bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right superior frontal gyrus during encoding
- P < .05
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
E2-related activation regions vs memory and affect
- Left inferior frontal gyrus activation and memory performance, β [SE]
- 0.004 [0.002]; P < .05
- Left inferior frontal gyrus activation and anxiety, β [SE]
- −0.100 [0.050]; P < .05
- Left middle frontal gyrus activation and memory performance, β [SE]
- 0.006 [0.002]; P < .01
- Left STG activation and depression, β [SE]
- −0.083 [0.036]; P < .05
- Left STG activation and anxiety, β [SE]
- −0.134 [0.058]; P < .05
- Left middle frontal gyrus activation also associated with depression and anxiety
E1-related activation regions vs memory and affect
- Left insula and precentral gyrus activation associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety; none related to memory
Original publication
Endogenous Estrogens and Brain Activation During Verbal Memory Encoding and Recognition in the Postmenopause. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Published 19 July 2024. doi:10.
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