Sex differences in the incidence of total callosal agenesis in BALB/cCF mice

Abstract

Corpus callosum (CC) development and adult morphology seems to be affected by sex. Here we analyzed the incidence of total callosal agenesis in 341 adult male and 318 female BALB/cCF mice. This strain of mice presents total or partial callosal agenesis in approximately 20–30% of its population. No significant differences were found in overall distributions of CC lengths and in average callosal lengths (totally acallosal excluded) between male and female mice. However, a highly significant difference in the incidence of total callosal agenesis was demonstrated: 18% ( n=56) of the female mice presented such trait as opposed to 10% of males ( n=34). This last result suggests that sex is a relevant factor in callosal development in its earliest stages of formation.