Sex hormones link to cerebellar changes differently by sex
In 137 aging adults tracked across one year, changes in estradiol and testosterone showed opposing associations with cerebellar subregion volumes in men and women.
bioRxiv
In a cohort of aging adults, researchers tracked how salivary sex-steroid hormones relate to cerebellar structure over one year. The preprint evaluated 137 adults at baseline and 93 at a one-year follow-up, measuring free salivary 17β-estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone alongside cerebellar lobular volumes.
The authors found that hormone-cerebellum relationships were consistently sex-differentiated. Changes in estradiol related to volume changes in Crus I in opposite directions in males and females, a divergence also observed across bilateral Crus I, Lobule VI, and Right Crus II. In females, greater increases in testosterone were associated with greater volume decline in Left Crus I and Right Lobule V. In males, increases in estradiol were associated with larger volumes, while testosterone showed no significant primary associations. Progesterone also showed a male-specific cross-sectional link with Crus II volume.
Why it matters
The findings suggest sex steroids may influence cerebellar aging in sex-specific ways, indicating that hormonal brain-aging models based on the cerebral cortex or a single sex may not apply to the cerebellum.
Caveats
The observational study tracked participants across a single one-year follow-up with sample attrition from 137 to 93 adults. Additionally, the findings appear in a preprint that has not yet undergone peer review.
- Sex hormone signalling (oestrogen, androgen)
- Testosterone
- 17β-estradiol
- Progesterone
- Cerebellar volume
- Humans
The paper
Patel RH, Magalhães TN, Bernard JA
bioRxiv · 4 Oct 2026 · Preprint, not peer-reviewed