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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Puberty, not age, marks the start of adolescent brain structural remodeling

  • Jordan A. Chad1
  • Olivia C. Klukas2
  • Mohammad Ghasoub3
  • Catherine Lebel4
4 affiliations
  1. 1Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, Toronto, Canada; Department of Radiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada; Corresponding author at: Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, Toronto, Canada.
  2. 2Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada
  3. 3Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Calgary, Canada
  4. 4Department of Radiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada; Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Calgary, Canada
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Abstract

Many studies have shown that pubertal changes are associated with brain changes, but there lacks a clear understanding of what happens to the brain at puberty, and whether it opens the brain structural remodeling that characterizes adolescence. In this study, we used three longitudinal waves of structural MRI data from thousands of participants of the ABCD study aged 9–14 years to compare brain changes between age-matched children who had either reached or not reached a major pubertal milestone: menarche in females and fonarche (voice drop) in males. We found that only the children who had reached the milestone exhibited widespread contraction of cortical surface area and subcortical volume. The contraction was more pronounced in females, in line with previous evidence of how gonadal hormones regulate neuronal fine-tuning. Our findings suggest that reaching puberty, rather than reaching a particular age, begins the adolescent phase of structural brain development.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{chad2026puberty,
  title = {{Puberty, not age, marks the start of adolescent brain structural remodeling}},
  author = {Jordan A. Chad and Olivia C. Klukas and Mohammad Ghasoub and Catherine Lebel},
  journal = {Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1016/j.dcn.2026.101835},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2026.101835},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Puberty, not age, marks the start of adolescent brain structural remodeling
AU  - Jordan A. Chad
AU  - Olivia C. Klukas
AU  - Mohammad Ghasoub
AU  - Catherine Lebel
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
JO  - Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
DO  - 10.1016/j.dcn.2026.101835
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2026.101835
AB  - Many studies have shown that pubertal changes are associated with brain changes, but there lacks a clear understanding of what happens to the brain at puberty, and whether it opens the brain structural remodeling that characterizes adolescence. In this study, we used three longitudinal waves of structural MRI data from thousands of participants of the ABCD study aged 9–14 years to compare brain changes between age-matched children who had either reached or not reached a major pubertal milestone: menarche in females and fonarche (voice drop) in males. We found that only the children who had reached the milestone exhibited widespread contraction of cortical surface area and subcortical volume. The contraction was more pronounced in females, in line with previous evidence of how gonadal hormones regulate neuronal fine-tuning. Our findings suggest that reaching puberty, rather than reaching a particular age, begins the adolescent phase of structural brain development.
SN  - 1878-9293
SN  - 1878-9307
ER  -