At the peak of fertility of the female brain grows

As for the first time installed German researchers, in women the size of one of the divisions of the brain — the hippocampus — varies throughout the menstrual cycle, depending on the level of sex hormone estrogen. The maximum size of hippocampus reaches to the period of ovulation, and then gradually decreases.

The results of the pilot studies, conducted by specialists from the Institute for the study of cognitive processes and the human brain, the Max Planck Society, published in the journal Nature Neuropsychopharmacology.

The authors studied the relationship between changes in hormonal levels during the menstrual cycle and mood fluctuations. They have made the unexpected discovery is not only the brain is able to successfully adapt to changing conditions in the long term, but in the case of women doing this every month, as scholars, with "remarkable regularity".

So, analysis of the results of the brain scan of a healthy 32-year-old woman for two menstrual cycles showed, that the volume of the hippocampus, the region, playing a key role in such processes of higher nervous activity, as memory, mood and emotion — depends directly on the level of the female sex hormone estrogen. With increasing concentrations of estrogen and increasing the amount of gray and white matter in the hippocampus, reaching a peak during ovulation, When estrogen levels and fertility Max. Then, with a gradual drop in estrogen, reduced and the size of the hippocampus. Another female sex hormone, progesterone, such an effect on the brain has no.

For researchers remains a mystery, exactly how the monthly changes in hippocampal volume affect the behavior and intellectual ability. The study of this phenomenon have yet to. But scientists made the discovery already is able to assist them in understanding the causes the most severe form of PMS is premenstrual disorders disforičeskogo, which days, prior to menstruation, women get depressed.