Abstract
BackgroundHemispherical asymmetry, sex differences and age-related changes have been reported for the human brain. Meanwhile it was still unclear the presence of the asymmetry or sex differences in the human brain occurred whether as a normal development or as consequences of any pathological changes. The aim of this study was to investigate hemispherical asymmetry, sex differences and age-related changes by using a tract-based analysis in the nerve bundles.Methods40 healthy elderly subjects underwent magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging, and we calculated fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values along the major white matter bundles.ResultsWe identified hemispherical asymmetry in the ADC values for the cingulate fasciculus in the total subject set and in males, and a sex difference in the FA values for the right uncinate fasciculus. For age-related changes, we demonstrated a significant increase in ADC values with advancing age in the right cingulum, left temporal white matter, and a significant decrease in FA values in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus.ConclusionIn this study, we found hemispherical asymmetry, sex differences and age-related changes in particular regions of the white matter in the healthy elderly. Our results suggest considering these differences can be important in imaging studies.
Highlights
Hemispherical asymmetry, sex differences and age-related changes have been reported for the human brain
In the white matter fibers, we examined the uncinate fasciculus (UNC), cingulate fasciculus (CIG), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and inferior occipitofrontal fasciculus (IOFF)
Asymmetry Comparisons of the mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of each tractography between the bilateral hemispheres are shown in Additional File 3: Table S3
Summary
Hemispherical asymmetry, sex differences and age-related changes have been reported for the human brain. It was still unclear the presence of the asymmetry or sex differences in the human brain occurred whether as a normal development or as consequences of any pathological changes. The aim of this study was to investigate hemispherical asymmetry, sex differences and age-related changes by using a tract-based analysis in the nerve bundles. The hemispheres of the human brain are asymmetric in structure and function, and anatomical brain asymmetry has been studied using various methods [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Watkins et al reported asymmetries of the planum temporale and the angular gyrus using voxel-based statistical analysis (VBA) [9]. Several studies showed neuroanatomical asymmetry in the gray matter and white matter fibers [6,12,13].
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