biostudies-literatureLenz BBundesministerium für Bildung und ForschungDeutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftZentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit (ZI)1243-1254https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC10449726biostudies-literatureUnknown273(6)Prenatal androgenization associates sex-dependently with behavior and mental health in adolescence and adulthood, including risk-taking, emotionality, substance use, and depression. However, still little is known on how it affects underlying neural correlates, like frontal brain control regions. Thus, we tested whether prenatal androgen load is sex-dependently related to frontal cortex volumes in a sex-balanced adolescent sample. In a cross-sectional magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined 61 adolescents (28 males, 33 females; aged 14 or 16 years) and analyzed associations of frontal brain region volumes with the second-to-fourth digit length ratio (2D:4D), an established marker for prenatal androgenization, using voxel-based morphometry in a region-of-interest approach. Lower 2D:4D European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscienceSex-specific association between prenatal androgenization (second-to-fourth digit length ratio) and frontal brain volumes in adolescents.PMC1044972601GL1745B402170461 – TRR265402170461 - TRR265Banaschewski TFlor HIMAC-Mind ConsortiumFasching PAGerhardt SGuldner SBoroumand-Jazi RPrignitz MNees FLenz BBuchholz VNKornhuber JEichler AfalseSex-specific association between prenatal androgenization (second-to-fourth digit length ratio) and frontal brain volumes in adolescents.Prenatal androgenization associates sex-dependently with behavior and mental health in adolescence and adulthood, including risk-taking, emotionality, substance use, and depression. However, still little is known on how it affects underlying neural correlates, like frontal brain control regions. Thus, we tested whether prenatal androgen load is sex-dependently related to frontal cortex volumes in a sex-balanced adolescent sample. In a cross-sectional magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined 61 adolescents (28 males, 33 females; aged 14 or 16 years) and analyzed associations of frontal brain region volumes with the second-to-fourth digit length ratio (2D:4D), an established marker for prenatal androgenization, using voxel-based morphometry in a region-of-interest approach. Lower 2D:4D 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Sep2025-04-18T18:47:21.45Z2025-04-07T06:30:46.906ZS-EPMC104497263644910310.1007/s00406-022-01515-4