Your Brain on Hormones: Impact of ovarian hormone suppression on brain structure and cognition

Interns

Jessica Chan, Melissa Chavez, Aliza Lam, & Sithu Madigapola

Project Description

Endometriosis is one of the most common reproductive disorders, impacting 1 in 10 women. Endometriosis is a disorder where tissue grows outside of the uterus instead of the inside, causing pelvic pain and infertility. Although there is no known cause or cure, it can be treated through a suppressant called Elagolix, which shuts down the ovarian hormones estrogen and progesterone. However, this may have effects throughout the body, beyond the uterus. We want to understand how ovarian hormone suppression affects brain structure and cognitive ability. The experimental group will take Elagolix and be assessed before and after taking the medication to measure the effects. The control group follows the same procedure, except without the drug. The visits include blood draws, psychological testing, and MRI scans to assess hormone levels, memory performance, and gray matter volume. These tests show that estrogen levels decrease with the hormone suppressant. While the control group improved memory performance at their follow-up visit, women on the hormone suppressant did not. These tests also showed no correlation between decreases in estrogen and changes in gray matter volume. Our future steps are to increase the sample size in the treatment group to see whether trends stay the same. This research works to advance women’s health, transform medicine to include women and end bias against women in research.

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