Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, 4235 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77840, USA.
Texas A&M University Institute for Neuroscience, 3474 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
Brain Struct Funct. 2022 Sep;227(7):2439-2455. doi: 10.1007/s00429-022-02535-5. Epub 2022 Jul 25.
The cerebellum has established associations with motor function and a well-recognized role in cognition. In advanced age, cognitive and motor impairments contribute to reduced quality of life and are more common. Regional cerebellar volume is associated with performance across these domains and sex hormones may influence this volume. Examining sex differences in regional cerebellar volume in conjunction with age, and in the context of reproductive stage stands to improve our understanding of cerebellar aging and pathology. Data from 508 healthy adults (ages 18-88; 47% female) from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience database were used here. CERES was used to assess lobular volume in T1-weighted images. We examined sex differences in adjusted regional cerebellar volume while controlling for age. A subgroup of participants (n = 370, 50% female) was used to assess group differences in female reproductive stages as compared to age-matched males. Sex differences in adjusted volume were seen across most anterior and posterior cerebellar lobules. Most of these lobules had significant linear relationships with age in males and females. While there were no interactions between sex and reproductive stage groups, exploratory analyses in females alone revealed multiple regional differences by reproductive stage. We found sex differences in volume across much of the cerebellum, linear associations with age, and did not find an interaction for sex and reproductive stage on regional cerebellar volume. Longitudinal investigation into hormonal influences on cerebellar structure and function is warranted as hormonal changes with menopause may impact cerebellar volume over time.
小脑与运动功能有关，并在认知方面发挥着公认的作用。在老年，认知和运动障碍会降低生活质量，而且更为常见。小脑的区域体积与这些领域的表现相关，而性激素可能会影响这个体积。研究区域小脑体积在年龄方面的性别差异，并在生殖阶段的背景下，有助于提高我们对小脑衰老和病理学的理解。本研究使用了剑桥衰老与神经科学中心数据库中 508 名健康成年人（年龄 18-88 岁；47%为女性）的数据。使用 CERES 评估 T1 加权图像中的小叶体积。我们在控制年龄的情况下，检查了小脑区域体积的性别差异。一小部分参与者（n=370，50%为女性）被用来评估女性生殖阶段与年龄匹配的男性之间的组间差异。在大多数小脑的前叶和后叶都观察到了调整后体积的性别差异。这些小叶中的大多数在男性和女性中与年龄都有显著的线性关系。尽管性别和生殖阶段组之间没有交互作用，但对女性单独进行的探索性分析显示，在多个生殖阶段存在多个区域差异。我们发现小脑体积存在性别差异，与年龄呈线性相关，而且性别和生殖阶段对小脑区域体积没有交互作用。有必要对激素对小脑结构和功能的影响进行纵向研究，因为更年期的激素变化可能会随着时间的推移影响小脑体积。
