Prendergast Daniel M, Ardekani Babak, Ikuta Toshikazu, John Majnu, Peters Bart, DeRosse Pamela, Wellington Robin, Malhotra Anil K, Szeszko Philip R
Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Manhasset, New York.
Department of Psychiatry Research, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore-LIJ Health System, Glen Oaks, New York.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2015 Jul;36(7):2691-702. doi: 10.1002/hbm.22800. Epub 2015 Apr 2.
The corpus callosum (CC) is the largest interhemispheric white matter tract in the human brain, and is characterized by pronounced differences in morphology among individuals. There are limited data, however, regarding typical development, sex differences, and the neuropsychological correlates of individual differences within CC subregions. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging exams were collected in a large cohort (N = 305) of healthy individuals (ages 8-68). We used a highly reliable program to automatically identify the midsagittal plane and obtain CC subregion measures according to approaches described by Witelson [1989]: Brain 112:799-835 and Hampel et al. [1998]: Arch Neurol 55:193-198 and a measure of whole CC shape (i.e., circularity). CC measurement parameters, including area, perimeter, length, circularity, and CC subregion area values were generally characterized by inverted U-shaped curves across the observed age range. Peak values for CC subregions were observed between ages 32 and 45, and descriptive linear correlations were consistent with sharper area changes in development. We also observed differing age-associated changes across the lifespan between males and females in the CC subregion corresponding to the genu (Witelson's subregion 2), as well as CC circularity. Mediation analysis using path modeling indicated that genu area mediated the relationship between age and processing speed for females, and the relationship between age and visual learning and executive functioning for males. Taken together, our findings implicate sex differences in CC morphology across the lifespan that are localized to the genu, which appear to mediate neuropsychological functions.
胼胝体（CC）是人类大脑中最大的半球间白质束，其形态在个体之间存在显著差异。然而，关于CC各亚区域的典型发育、性别差异以及个体差异的神经心理学相关性的数据有限。我们收集了一个由305名健康个体（年龄在8至68岁之间）组成的大型队列的磁共振（MR）成像检查数据。我们使用了一个高度可靠的程序来自动识别正中矢状面，并根据Witelson[1989]：《大脑》112:799 - 835以及Hampel等人[1998]：《神经病学档案》55:193 - 198所描述的方法获得CC亚区域测量值以及整个CC形状的一个测量值（即圆形度）。CC测量参数，包括面积、周长、长度、圆形度以及CC亚区域面积值，在观察到的年龄范围内总体上呈现倒U形曲线特征。CC亚区域的峰值出现在32岁至45岁之间，描述性线性相关性与发育过程中更明显的面积变化一致。我们还观察到，在对应于膝部（Witelson的亚区域2）的CC亚区域以及CC圆形度方面，男性和女性在整个生命周期中与年龄相关的变化有所不同。使用路径模型的中介分析表明，膝部面积介导了女性年龄与处理速度之间的关系，以及男性年龄与视觉学习和执行功能之间的关系。综上所述，我们的研究结果表明，整个生命周期中CC形态的性别差异定位于膝部，这似乎介导了神经心理学功能。
