The impact of sex, puberty, and hormones on white matter microstructure in adolescents.

ABSTRACT:

Background

During adolescence, numerous factors influence the organization of the brain. It is unclear what influence sex and puberty have on white matter microstructure, as well as the role that rapidly increasing sex steroids play.

Methods

White matter microstructure was examined in 77 adolescents (ages 10-16) using diffusion tensor imaging. Multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the relationships between fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) and sex, puberty, and their interaction, controlling for age. Follow-up analyses determined if sex steroids predicted microstructural characteristics in sexually dimorphic and pubertal-related white matter regions, as well as in whole brain.

Results

Boys had higher FA in white matter carrying cort

SUBMITTER: Herting MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3412439 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature