Gender Differences Are Encoded Differently in the Structure and Function of the Human Brain Revealed by Multimodal...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Brain Imaging
• Human Anatomy

Background:

• Gender differences in brain structure and function are well-documented.
• The relationship between these structural and functional differences remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate gender differences in the human brain using structural and functional imaging.
• To determine the relationship between structural and functional brain differences between genders.

Main Methods:

• Employed univariate and multivariate approaches on a sample of 290 healthy adults (155 females).
• Utilized structural (gray matter volume - GMV) and functional (regional homogeneity - ReHo, functional connectivity - FC) imaging measures.
• Analyzed the overlap and correlation between GMV, ReHo, and FC differences.

Main Results:

• Univariate analyses identified significant gender differences in GMV, ReHo, and FC, primarily in frontal, parietal, occipital lobes, and cerebellum, with females generally showing higher values.
• Little overlap was found between structural (GMV) and functional (ReHo, FC) differences, and they were not correlated.
• Multivariate pattern analysis showed high classification accuracy for distinguishing genders based on GMV (94.3%), ReHo (90.73%), and FC (83.89%), with combined measures reaching 96.6%.

Conclusions:

• Gender differences are encoded distinctly in brain structure and function.
• Structural and functional brain differences between genders provide complementary information.
• The complex interplay between brain structure and function may explain gender-specific behavioral variations.