Structural Brain Changes Across the Female Lifespan: Puberty, Pregnancy, and Menopause Show Shared and Distinct Trajectories

Structural Brain Changes Across the Female Lifespan: Puberty, Pregnancy, and Menopause Show Shared and Distinct Trajectories | Research Square Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Structural Brain Changes Across the Female Lifespan: Puberty, Pregnancy, and Menopause Show Shared and Distinct Trajectories Sophie van t Hof, Marieke Bos, Milou Straathof, Eveline Crone, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9235100/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The female brain undergoes substantial reorganization during major hormonal transitions, yet whether puberty, pregnancy, and menopause engage shared or distinct neuroplastic mechanisms remains unknown. We conducted the first study comparing longitudinal structural brain changes across all three transitions using identical analytical methods (n=1292), with stable control groups to isolate transition-specific effects. Both pubertal girls transitioning through menarche and women transitioning to motherhood showed cortical gray matter reductions across the majority of examined regions, with cross-cohort comparisons confirming broad mostly convergence but also regional divergence across the cortex. The menopausal transition showed a fundamental divergence from both puberty and pregnancy, as women transitioning through menopause showed no accelerated volumetric loss, while stable pre- and postmenopausal control groups did. These findings demonstrate that puberty and pregnancy share a broadly convergent signature of cortical remodeling, while menopause represents a qualitatively distinct neuroplastic state defined by the absence rather than acceleration of volumetric change. Biological sciences/Neuroscience Health sciences/Anatomy/Nervous system/Brain Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information

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