title: Oral contraceptive therapy modulates hemispheric asymmetry in spatial attention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Functional cerebral asymmetries (FCAs) are known to fluctuate across the menstrual cycle. The visual line-bisection task administered to normally cycling women showed different patterns of the interhemispheric interactions during menses and the midluteal cycle phase. However, the contribution of estrogens and progestins hormones to this phenomenon is still unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aim of our study was to show a variation of FCAs in women administered oral contraceptives (OCs) using the visual line-bisection task. Visual line-bisection task with three horizontal lines was administered to 36 healthy women taking a 21-day OC. Twenty-nine patients were right handed. The task was administered during OC intake (day 10) and at the end of the pill-free period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The right-handed women showed a significant leftward bias of veridical center on the first and third lines during OC intake compared with an opposite rightward bias during the pill-free period. The same phenomenon of contralateral deviation was observed in left-handed women on day 10 of OC intake.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study confirm a hormonal modulation on interhemispheric interaction and suggest that OCs may improve the interhemispheric interaction reducing FCAs compared with the low hormone level period. This opens new insights in OC prescription and choice of administration schedule in order to improve cognitive performances.
authors.affiliation: 4th Unit of Gynecology and Obstetrics-Dipartmento Ginecologia Ostetricia Neonatologia-Aldo Moro University of Bari Medical School, 70124 Bari, Italy. cicinelli@gynecology1.uniba.it
authors.forename: Ettore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cicinelli
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Tommaso
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cianci
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Colacurci
authors.forename: Leonarda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rella
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Loiudice
authors.forename: Maria Vittoria
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Cicinelli
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Livrea
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000187:drug effects*; D004967:Estrogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D011372:Progestins / Q000494:pharmacology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D004967:Estrogens; D011372:Progestins