Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Neurobiol Aging. 2022 Sep;117:139-150. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.05.014. Epub 2022 Jun 3.
Sex-specific differences in the aging cerebellum may be related to hormone changes with menopause. We evaluated the association between reproductive stage and lobular cerebellar network connectivity using data from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience repository. We used raw structural and resting state neuroimaging data and information regarding age, sex, and menopause-related variables. Crus I and II and Lobules V and VI were our cerebellar seeds of interest. We characterized reproductive stage using the Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop criteria. Results show that postmenopausal females have lower cerebello-striatal and cerebello-cortical connectivity, particularly in frontal regions, along with lower connectivity within the cerebellum, compared to reproductive females. Postmenopausal females also exhibit greater connectivity in some brain areas as well. Differences begin to emerge across transitional stages of menopause. Further, results reveal sex-specific differences in connectivity between female reproductive groups and age-matched male control groups. This suggests that menopause may be associated with cerebellar network connectivity in aging females, and sex differences in the aging brain may be related to this biological process.
性别特异性小脑衰老差异可能与绝经后激素变化有关。我们使用剑桥老龄化和神经科学研究中心的数据集，评估了生殖阶段与小叶小脑网络连接之间的关联。我们使用原始的结构和静息状态神经影像学数据以及与年龄、性别和绝经相关变量的信息。小脑的 Crus I 和 II 以及 Lobules V 和 VI 是我们感兴趣的种子区域。我们使用生殖衰老研讨会标准来描述生殖阶段。结果表明，与生殖期女性相比，绝经后女性的小脑-纹状体和小脑-皮质连接性较低，特别是在前额区域，同时小脑内的连接性也较低。此外，绝经后女性在一些脑区的连接性也较高。这些差异开始出现在绝经的过渡阶段。此外，结果还揭示了女性生殖组与年龄匹配的男性对照组之间的连接性存在性别特异性差异。这表明，绝经可能与衰老女性的小脑网络连接有关，而大脑衰老中的性别差异可能与这一生物学过程有关。
