Murphy D G, DeCarli C, McIntosh A R, Daly E, Mentis M J, Pietrini P, Szczepanik J, Schapiro M B, Grady C L, Horwitz B, Rapoport S I
Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md, USA.
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1996 Jul;53(7):585-94. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1996.01830070031007.
There are significant age and sex effects in cognitive ability and brain disease. However, sex differences in aging of human brain areas associated with nonreproductive behavior have not been extensively studied. We hypothesized that there would be significant sex differences in aging of brain areas that subserve speech, visuospatial, and memory function.
We investigated sex differences in the effect of aging on human brain morphometry by means of volumetric magnetic resonance imaging and on regional cerebral metabolism for glucose by positron emission tomography. In the magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined 69 healthy right-handed subjects (34 women and 35 men), divided into young (age range, 20 to 35 years) and old (60 to 85 years) groups. In the positron emission tomography study, we investigated 120 healthy right-handed subjects (65 women and 55 men) aged 21 to 91 years.
In the magnetic resonance imaging study, age-related volume loss was significantly greater in men than women in whole brain and frontal and temporal lobes, whereas it was greater in women than men in hippocampus and parietal lobes. In the positron emission tomography study, significant sex differences existed in the effect of age on regional brain metabolism, and asymmetry of metabolism, in the temporal and parietal lobes, Broca's area, thalamus, and hippocampus.
We found significant sex differences in aging of brain areas that are essential to higher cognitive functioning. Thus, our findings may explain some of the age-sex differences in human cognition and response to brain injury and disease.
认知能力和脑部疾病存在显著的年龄和性别效应。然而，与非生殖行为相关的人类脑区老化中的性别差异尚未得到广泛研究。我们假设，在负责言语、视觉空间和记忆功能的脑区老化方面会存在显著的性别差异。
我们通过容积磁共振成像研究了老化对人类脑形态测量的影响中的性别差异，并通过正电子发射断层扫描研究了对区域脑葡萄糖代谢的影响。在磁共振成像研究中，我们检查了69名健康的右利手受试者（34名女性和35名男性），分为年轻组（年龄范围20至35岁）和老年组（60至85岁）。在正电子发射断层扫描研究中，我们调查了120名年龄在21至91岁之间的健康右利手受试者（65名女性和55名男性）。
在磁共振成像研究中，全脑、额叶和颞叶的年龄相关体积损失男性比女性显著更大，而海马体和顶叶则是女性比男性更大。在正电子发射断层扫描研究中，年龄对颞叶、顶叶、布洛卡区、丘脑和海马体的区域脑代谢及代谢不对称性存在显著的性别差异。
我们发现在对高级认知功能至关重要的脑区老化方面存在显著的性别差异。因此，我们的研究结果可能解释了人类认知以及对脑损伤和疾病反应中的一些年龄 - 性别差异。
