{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T10:44:39Z","timestamp":1784544279982,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,30]],"date-time":"2026-01-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769731200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100020298","name":"Balchem Corp.","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100020298","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Choline plays an important role in maintaining normal cellular function and overall physiology. Endogenous choline availability depends on the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine via the phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT) pathway. Expression of PEMT is influenced by estrogen, as its promoter contains multiple estrogen-responsive elements that enhance enzyme activity. How a low estrogenic condition like menopause influences choline\u2019s effect on the brain is not yet fully understood. Methods: In this pilot study, 20 women participated in two study days, with 1650 mg of oral choline bitartrate or a matching placebo administered three hours before a functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI scans were collected on each study day while subjects performed an N-back working memory task. Results: In this pilot study, no differences in working memory performance were observed, but decreased activation was found for the choline compared to the placebo during the 2-back compared to 0-back conditions in regions of the right temporal lobe (p &lt; 0.001 voxel-level threshold, and p-FDR &lt; 0.05 cluster-size threshold). When we seeded the right planum temporale to examine its functional connectivity with the rest of the brain, we found that choline modulated a large portion of the working memory network during the difficult memory load condition. Conclusions: These results in this pilot study illustrate the effect of choline on working memory-related brain activation and functional connectivity in postmenopausal women. We propose that choline may increase brain functional efficiency in low estrogenic conditions like menopause, but further studies are needed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18030459","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,30]],"date-time":"2026-01-30T13:04:46Z","timestamp":1769778286000},"page":"459","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Oral Choline Reduced Working Memory-Related Brain Activation in Postmenopausal Women: A Pilot Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2092-334X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julie A.","family":"Dumas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abigail","family":"Testo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna Senft","family":"Miller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Angeles","family":"Ozahl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-9646-9306","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Callum","family":"Potts","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, Maimi, FL 33180, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1952-8193","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jiming","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Radiology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marwa","family":"Aboukhatwa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Investigational Pharmacy, University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington, VT 05401, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James","family":"Boyd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"254","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pbb.2011.02.022","article-title":"The cholinergic hypothesis of cognitive aging revisited again: Cholinergic functional compensation","volume":"99","author":"Dumas","year":"2011","journal-title":"Pharmacol. 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