Research Article

Normal sexual dimorphism in the human basal ganglia

  1. Mark Rijpkema1,*,
  2. Daphne Everaerd2,
  3. Carline van der Pol1,
  4. Barbara Franke2,3,
  5. Indira Tendolkar1,2,
  6. Guillén Fernández1,4

Article first published online: 26 APR 2011

DOI: 10.1002/hbm.21283

Issue

Human Brain Mapping

Human Brain Mapping

Volume 33, Issue 5, pages 1246–1252, May 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Rijpkema, M., Everaerd, D., van der Pol, C., Franke, B., Tendolkar, I. and Fernández, G. (2012), Normal sexual dimorphism in the human basal ganglia. Hum. Brain Mapp., 33: 1246–1252. doi: 10.1002/hbm.21283

Author Information

  1. 1

    Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  2. 2

    Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Neuroscience, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  3. 3

    Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Institute for Genetic and Metabolic Disease, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  4. 4

    Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

*Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 5 APR 2012
  2. Article first published online: 26 APR 2011
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 19 JAN 2011
  4. Manuscript Revised: 25 NOV 2010
  5. Manuscript Received: 12 JUL 2010

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Keywords:

  • sex differences;
  • brain;
  • magnetic resonance imaging;
  • volumetry;
  • caudate nucleus;
  • globus pallidus;
  • nucleus accumbens;
  • putamen

Abstract

Male and female brains differ in both structure and function. Investigating this sexual dimorphism in healthy subjects is an important first step to ultimately gain insight into sex-specific differences in behavior and risk for neuropsychiatric disorders. The basal ganglia are among the main regions containing sex steroid receptors in the brain and play a central role in cognitive (dys)functioning. However, little is known about sexual dimorphism of different basal ganglia nuclei. The aim of the present study was to investigate sex-specific differences in basal ganglia morphology using MRI. We applied automatic volumetry on anatomical MRI data of two large cohorts of healthy young adults (n = 463 and n = 541) and assessed the volume of four major nuclei of the basal ganglia: caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, nucleus accumbens, and putamen, while controlling for total gray matter volume, total white matter volume, and age of the participant. No significant sex differences were found for caudate nucleus and nucleus accumbens, but males showed significantly larger volumes for globus pallidus and putamen, as confirmed in both cohorts. These results show that sexual dimorphism is neither a general effect in the basal ganglia nor confined to just one specific nucleus, and will aid the interpretation of differences in basal ganglia (dys)function between males and females. Hum Brain Mapp, 2011. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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