Survey study, 2017
Do women with PMS have different brain activity than other women?
Yes, women with PMS show different brain activity than other women. The study is small (only 20 women with PMS), so larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.
What they did
Cross-sectional study comparing brain scans of 20 women with PMS and 21 healthy women. Brain scans were done during the late phase of the menstrual cycle using MRI. Participants completed a questionnaire about symptom severity.
What they found
Women with PMS had increased brain activity in the bilateral precuneus, left inferior temporal cortex, right inferior frontal cortex, and left middle frontal cortex. They had decreased activity in the right anterior cingulate cortex. The severity of symptoms was related to activity in the left middle frontal cortex and right anterior cingulate cortex.
What it means for you
Brain activity patterns differ in women with PMS, which could help explain what causes PMS. The main limitation is the very small sample size.
20
Women with PMS
21
Healthy control women
About the study
- Original title
- Abnormal Spontaneous Brain Activity in Women with Premenstrual Syndrome Revealed by Regional Homogeneity
- Authors
- Liao H, Pang Y, Liu P et al.
- Journal
- Frontiers in human neuroscience
- Year
- 2017
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 20
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00062
Original abstract
Background : Previous studies have revealed that the etiologies of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) refer to menstrual cycle related brain changes. However, its intrinsic neural mechanism is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to assess abnormal spontaneous brain activity and to explicate the intricate neural mechanism of PMS using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI). Materials and Methods : The data of 20 PMS patients (PMS group) and 21 healthy controls (HC group) were analyzed by regional homogeneity (ReHo) method during the late luteal phase of menstrual cycle. In addition, all the participants were asked to complete a daily record of severity of problems (DRSP) questionnaire. Results : Compared with HC group, the results showed that PMS group had increased ReHo mainly in the bilateral precuneus, left inferior temporal cortex (ITC), right inferior frontal cortex (IFC) and left middle frontal cortex (MFC) and decreased ReHo in the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) at the luteal phase. Moreover, the PMS group had higher DRSP scores, and the DRSP scores positively correlated with ReHo in left MFC and negatively correlated with ReHo in the right ACC. Conclusion : Our results suggest that abnormal spontaneous brain activity is found in PMS patients and the severity of symptom is specifically related to the left MFC and right ACC. The present findings may be beneficial to explicate the intricate neural mechanism of PMS.
Reproduced under CC-BY.