Sexually dimorphic cerebral asymmetries in 2-deoxy-D-glucose uptake during postnatal development of the rat: correlations with age and relative brain activity.

Using a modification of the 2-deoxy-D-glucose technique we have studied developmental changes in local cerebral glucose incorporation. The data were analyzed in terms of per cent uptake, relative brain activity and left-right asymmetry for 7 brain regions. We have shown previously that left-right asymmetries exist at birth and now report: (a) that left-right asymmetries change with age, there being both left-to-right and right-to-left maturational gradients in different structures; and (b) that in most brain regions, the more active a structure is relative to the rest of the brain, the more likely that structure is right-biased and vice-versa. Some of these relationships manifest sexual dimorphism. Collectively, these data indicate that there are dynamic relationships between brain activity, brain asymmetry and brain development in the rat.