Cerebellar Gray Matter Volume, Executive Function, and Insomnia: Gender Differences in Adolescents

Kyu-In Jung,Yae On Kim,Shin-Young Kim,Subin Park,Chan-Hee Song,Bung-Nyun Kim,Bumhee Park,Min-Hyeon Park

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-37154-w

Abstract

The cerebellum is an important region responsible for adolescent cognitive function and sleep, and their correlation is expected to show different patterns depending on age and gender. We examined the regional cerebellar gray matter volume (GMV), executive function (EF) and insomnia symptoms to identify their correlation and gender differences in adolescents. Data for a total of 55 subjects’ (M = 31, F = 24, 14.80 ± 1.39 years old) were analyzed. The correlations between cerebellar regional GMV and Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) subcategories showed that EF was better with larger GMV both in males and females. Far more overall correlations with cerebellar regions were observed in boys, with corresponding correlation strength being higher, and differences in localization were also observed in contrast to girls. Larger cerebellar GMV corresponded to better EF in adolescents. Insomnia did not influence the correlations between cerebellar regional GMV and EF, but more severe insomnia in boys correlated to smaller GMV in the right flocculonodular lobe. These results might implicate that the adolescent cerebellum is involved differently in EF dependent on gender.

Highlights

The cerebellum is an important region responsible for adolescent cognitive function and sleep, and their correlation is expected to show different patterns depending on age and gender
Nadkarni et al reported that gait speed was faster and information-processing ability was better in larger cerebellar gray matter volume (GMV) regions associated with cognitive function[30], while Miller et al observed that the GMVs of the cerebellar vermis VI, V, VIII, IX, X regions are correlated with cognitive ability[24]
The correlation strength between Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) subcategories and cerebellar GMV differed by cerebellar region

Summary

Introduction

The cerebellum is an important region responsible for adolescent cognitive function and sleep, and their correlation is expected to show different patterns depending on age and gender. Insomnia did not influence the correlations between cerebellar regional GMV and EF, but more severe insomnia in boys correlated to smaller GMV in the right flocculonodular lobe These results might implicate that the adolescent cerebellum is involved differently in EF dependent on gender. Based on fMRI studies, Stoodley et al have reported that the regions responsible for motor, cognition, and affect in the cerebellum are all different[23,24,25,26,27,28,29]. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies have revealed differences in cerebellar regional gray matter volume (GMV) dependent on cognitive domains, and showed that larger GMV results in enhanced cognitive function[23,24,25,26,27,28,29]. The correlation between cerebellar GMV and cognitive ability shows gender

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Conclusion