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Menstrual Cycle TMS Plasticity Pilot

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University of Pennsylvania

Status

Enrolling

Conditions

Cortical Activation

Treatments

Device: transcranial magnetic stimulation

Study type

Observational

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

Details and patient eligibility

About

Aim 1: Assess how menstrual cycle phase affects motor cortex plasticity in females.

Aim 2: Compare motor cortex plasticity between males and females across the same time points, identifying potential sex differences in TMS response.

Aim 3: Examine associations between serum hormone levels and TMS-induced plasticity within and between sexes.

Full description

This project will recruit healthy male and female volunteers between the ages of 20-40. Females must who are not on hormonal medications and, if female, have regular menstrual cycles as defined in Table 1. At time of consent, female participants will be send home with given tests that may assess urine estradiol, LH and/or their metabolites. Participants will be asked to complete these tests at home, will be instructed to use these tests in the morning at the first void of the day; the number of days during each cycle that participants will be asked to complete these tests will be based on their report of their regular cycle pattern but will not be longer than half the number of days in each cycle. In addition, female subjects will be given a RedCap survey link at which they will track their menstrual cycle and results from the urine estradiol/LH tests.

Subjects will undergo 4 study visits over approximately 1-2 months depending on availability and, if female, menstrual cycle point. At visit 1, subjects will consent to the protocol, fill out surveys including the TMS Adult Safety Screening (TASS) and a questionnaire about past hormonal medication use and if relevant, menstrual cycle history. If female, subjects will be given take-home ovulation tests to use across the study duration.

On the following visits, they may undergo the following procedures: 1) venipuncture to collect approximately 45mL 10 mL of blood 2) motor threshold testing, 2) Paired-Pulse Stimulation 3) Single-Pulse TMS to the motor cortex 4) intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS) to the motor cortex.

Enrollment

100 estimated patients

Sex

All

Ages

20 to 40 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • Able to give their consent
  • If female, must have menstrual cycles of normal frequency, regularity, and duration.

Exclusion criteria

  • Non-English speaking
  • Any medical condition that increases risk for TMS
  • History of seizure
  • History of epilepsy
  • Increased risk of seizure for any reason

Trial design

100 participants in 1 patient group

Volunteers
Description:
Single group design
Treatment:
Device: transcranial magnetic stimulation

Trial contacts and locations

1

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Central trial contact

Nicholas Balderston, PhD

Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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