Dynamic Inter-Modality Source Coupling Reveals Sex Differences in Children based on Brain Structural-Functional Network Connectivity: A Multimodal MRI Study of the ABCD Dataset.

BACKGROUND

Sex differences in brain development have been widely reported in both structural and functional domains, particularly during late childhood and adolescence. Prior studies have shown that males and females differ in gray matter volume, network connectivity profiles, and their associations with behavior and cognition. However, how these sex differences manifest in the coupling between brain structure and function remains less understood. In this study, we introduce dynamic inter-modality source coupling (dIMSC), an extension of our earlier inter-modality source coupling method (IMSC). While IMSC evaluates the coupling between source-based morphometry (SBM) from structural MRI (sMRI) and static functional network connectivity from resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI), dIMSC incorporates the temporal dimension by linking SBM with dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC).

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated the transient coupling between dynamic FNC (dFNC) and sMRI gray matter volume over time, and compared sex differences in dFNC-sMRI coupling across brain regions in children.

METHODS

We used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, focusing on children aged 9-11 years. Structural MRI data were analyzed using SBM, applying independent component analysis (ICA) to extract gray matter sources. Resting-state fMRI data were processed to compute dFNC using a sliding window approach. For each subject, dIMSC was computed as the cross-correlation between the dFNC matrix and the SBM vector, resulting in a time-resolved vector that reflects the strength of structure-function coupling across components. Coupling values were categorized into positive, neutral, or negative based on a specific threshold. Sex differences in dFNC-sMRI coupling were evaluated using two-sample t-tests with correction for multiple comparisons.

RESULTS

Our analysis revealed significant sex-specific patterns, with males exhibiting stronger positive coupling in the postcentral gyrus and precuneus, whereas females showed stronger coupling in the inferior parietal lobule and middle frontal gyrus. Additional sex differences emerged in the neutral and negative coupling domain, with males demonstrating stronger coupling in the superior temporal gyrus, calcarine gyrus, and superior parietal lobule, whereas females exhibited stronger coupling in the caudate nucleus, cerebellum, and inferior parietal lobule.

CONCLUSION

Together these findings suggest distinct coupling in brain structure-function coupling between sexes, potentially reflecting sex-specific organization of functional networks and their structural substrates. The dIMSC method advances our earlier work by enabling time-resolved analysis of brain structure-function coupling, providing a powerful framework for investigating neurodevelopmental processes.