Anna Feldbush

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Natural Sciences

Second Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Casto, Kathleen

Area of Concentration

Neuroscience

Abstract

The menstrual cycle, and associated variations in hormone status, are a powerful moderator of both behavioral and physiological variables. However, current methods of determining menstrual cycle phase in research are largely unreliable and often cumbersome to put to use in a study. This two-part study examined two bio-markers of menstrual cycle phase for the application in research. Study 1 assessed the viability of salivary ferning - a crystal pattern formed in dried saliva that is linked to ovarian hormone status -- in identifying menstrual cycle phase. The two sampling types used in this study demonstrated that although salivary ferning patterns conform to expected estradiol levels per each cycle phase, daily variation in ferning quantification makes single-day cycle phase deduction from a saliva sample unreliable. Study 2 assessed neural biomarkers of menstrual cycle status. To do this, functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record brain activation during a series of executive functioning tasks at three points throughout the menstrual cycle. This study found vast interpersonal variation in patterns of activation in each of the given tasks. Both of these studies highlight the importance of analyzing biological variables in response to menstrual cycle phase on a within-subject level, crucial for validity and practical utility of menstrual cycle research. Although the sample group may show predicted patterns in either ferning or BOLD response dependent of menstrual cycle phase, this conclusion is only valuable if it can be applied within a single subject when working to determine cycle phase in a research setting.

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