Longitudinal co-activation pattern analysis of menstrual cycle-related brain dynamics in primary dysmenorrhea.

Overview

1. Department of Medical Imaging, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710061, China
2. School of Future Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, China
3. The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, Institute of Health and Rehabilitation Science, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, The Key Laboratory of Neuro-informatics and Rehabilitation Engineering of Ministry of Civil Affairs, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, China
4. Research Center for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, China
5. Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, China
6. Rehabilitation Medicine Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710061, China

Abstract

Primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) is a chronic pelvic pain condition characterized by recurrent painful phases. While abnormal prostaglandin activity is central to its pain mechanism, and previous studies link PDM to central nervous system alterations associated with prostaglandin F2αlevels and pain intensity, the dynamic evolution of brain networks across the menstrual cycle remains unknown. This study employed the co-activation pattern analysis to investigate dynamic brain network characteristics across the menstrual, periovulatory, and luteal phases. Correlation analyses were performed between CAP metrics, pain scores, and PGF2α levels. Our results revealed that dynamic alterations of brain networks in patients with PDM exhibited trending changes throughout the menstrual cycle. Notably, the default mode network, salience network, sensorimotor network, and central executive network demonstrated significant periodic changes, which correlated with fluctuations in pain and PGF2α levels. This longitudinal study elucidates the dynamic neural mechanisms of patients with PDM, offering insights for early intervention strategies.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none (its code is available on request), so it has no map.

Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data and code availability

Data: All data reported in this paper are available from the lead contact upon request.

Code: All original code has been deposited at Zenodo and is publicly available as of the date of publication. DOIs are listed in the key resources table.

Additional information: Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 2, 28 September 2026

• Authors: added Huiping Liu (0000-0002-2598-8276); removed Huiping Liu

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 11 authors, 2 keywords, 2 funders, 84 references.

Cite

This paper

Liu, H., Su, X., Chen, Y., Gan, H., Shang, M., Chi, X., Li, Y., Lu, T., Zhang, M., Dun, W., & Huang, Z.-G. (2026). Longitudinal co-activation pattern analysis of menstrual cycle-related brain dynamics in primary dysmenorrhea. iScience, 29(7), 116525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116525

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.115059

A pharmacological rat model of recurrent pelvic pain exhibiting hyperalgesia and depression-like behaviors.

Journal: iScience

In common: pain, 5 references

[2] doi:10.1162/imag.a.1202

Recurring transient brain-wide co-activation patterns from EEG spatially resembling time-averaged resting-state networks.

Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: 5 references

[3] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-76011-7 [code]

Human cortex organizes dynamic co-fluctuations along the sensorimotor-association axis.

Journal: Nature communications

In common: 5 references

[4] doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcag146 [code]

Convergent structural brain alterations in chronic pain: a multi-metric individual participant data meta-analysis.

Journal: Brain communications

In common: pain, 3 references

[5] doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71961-4 [code]

Spatiotemporal asymmetries on brain energy landscape uncover system entrapment related to depression severity.

Journal: Nature communications

In common: 3 references

[6] doi:10.1038/s41598-026-51946-5

Integration of resting-state and stimulus-fMRI uncovers reduced network flexibility in post-surgical pain.

Journal: Scientific reports

In common: pain, 3 references

[7] doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcag121 [code]

Anterior insular co-activation patterns associated with stress markers in chronic primary pain.

Journal: Brain communications

In common: pain, 2 references

[8] doi:10.1093/oons/kvag006 [code]

Social disconnection in the brain: loneliness and age across networks using graph theory.

Journal: Oxford open neuroscience

In common: 3 references

[9] doi:10.1002/hbm.70590

Diurnal Variations and Test-Retest Reliability of Resting-State Functional MRI Metrics.

Journal: Human brain mapping

In common: 3 references

[10] doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003999

Hypermobility and chronic pain in adolescents: diverging functional and neural profiles without sensory differences.

Journal: Pain

In common: pain, 2 references

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.