Kang Xiaojian, Adamson Maheen M, Yoon Byung C
WRIISC-Women, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, 3801 Miranda Avenue, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Rehabilitation Service, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Brain Struct Funct. 2025 Jun 16;230(6):98. doi: 10.1007/s00429-025-02965-x.
Understanding the structural and functional differences in the brain between sexes may provide insight into the sex differences in behaviors, cognition, and disorders. Structural (SC) and functional (FC) connectivity were examined in this study on 111 (Females = 56) right-handed, healthy, young adults controlled for brain size, using the cluster and region-of-interest (ROI) based algorithms. A nearly moderate correlation between SC and FC was observed for both male and female cohorts, but the degree of correlation was not significantly different between the sexes. Sex differences in SC were found in both intra- and inter-hemispheric clusters and connections, with more differences in the left hemisphere. Compared to males, females were found to have anatomical parcels with higher SC in the left hemisphere involving the language network. Females were also found to have anatomical parcels with higher FC than males in the left hemisphere, including connections to the somatomotor and default mode networks, and lower FC distributed symmetrically between the two hemispheres. These findings highlight the sex differences in the brain structure and function in healthy, young adult populations that may underly behavioral and cognitive differences, including language processing and somatomotor perception.
了解两性大脑在结构和功能上的差异，可能有助于深入了解行为、认知和疾病方面的性别差异。本研究对111名（女性 = 56名）右利手、健康的年轻成年人进行了结构（SC）和功能（FC）连接性检测，这些成年人的脑容量得到了控制，采用了基于聚类和感兴趣区域（ROI）的算法。在男性和女性队列中均观察到SC和FC之间存在近乎中等程度的相关性，但两性之间的相关程度没有显著差异。在半球内和半球间的聚类和连接中均发现了SC的性别差异，左半球的差异更多。与男性相比，女性在左半球涉及语言网络的区域具有更高SC的解剖学分区。还发现女性在左半球具有比男性更高FC的解剖学分区，包括与躯体运动和默认模式网络的连接，并且FC在两个半球之间对称分布较低。这些发现突出了健康年轻成年人群大脑结构和功能的性别差异，这些差异可能是行为和认知差异的基础，包括语言处理和躯体运动感知。
