Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2022 Jan;43(1):470-499. doi: 10.1002/hbm.25204. Epub 2020 Oct 12.
For many traits, males show greater variability than females, with possible implications for understanding sex differences in health and disease. Here, the ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) Consortium presents the largest-ever mega-analysis of sex differences in variability of brain structure, based on international data spanning nine decades of life. Subcortical volumes, cortical surface area and cortical thickness were assessed in MRI data of 16,683 healthy individuals 1-90 years old (47% females). We observed significant patterns of greater male than female between-subject variance for all subcortical volumetric measures, all cortical surface area measures, and 60% of cortical thickness measures. This pattern was stable across the lifespan for 50% of the subcortical structures, 70% of the regional area measures, and nearly all regions for thickness. Our findings that these sex differences are present in childhood implicate early life genetic or gene-environment interaction mechanisms. The findings highlight the importance of individual differences within the sexes, that may underpin sex-specific vulnerability to disorders.
对于许多特征，男性的变异性大于女性，这可能对理解健康和疾病中的性别差异有一定的启示。在这里，ENIGMA（通过荟萃分析增强神经影像学遗传学）联盟基于跨越 90 年生命的国际数据，展示了迄今为止最大规模的大脑结构变异性的性别差异 mega 分析。在来自 16683 名健康个体的 MRI 数据中评估了皮质下体积、皮质表面积和皮质厚度，年龄为 1-90 岁（47%为女性）。我们观察到，所有皮质下容积测量、所有皮质表面积测量以及 60%的皮质厚度测量中，男性的个体间方差均明显大于女性。这种模式在整个生命周期中对于 50%的皮质下结构、70%的区域面积测量以及几乎所有厚度的区域都是稳定的。我们发现这些性别差异存在于儿童期，这暗示了早期生活中的遗传或基因-环境相互作用机制。这些发现强调了性内个体差异的重要性，这可能是导致性别特异性易感性的基础。
