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Sex Differences in Human Brain Structure at Birth.

Yumnah T Khan^1,2, Alex Tsompanidis³, Marcin A Radecki^3,4

¹Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 8AH, UK. yk415@cam.ac.uk.

Biology of Sex Differences

|October 18, 2024

Summary

Sex differences in brain structure are evident at birth, with males generally having larger overall brain volumes. Females show greater gray matter, while males exhibit more white matter, with regional variations present early in development.

Keywords:

Brain development Brain structure Neonatal brain Sex differences

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Developmental Biology
Human Anatomy

Background:

Sex differences in adult human brain anatomy are established, but less understood in early development.
The neonatal period is crucial for brain development, offering insights into prenatal and early postnatal influences on sex-based brain variations.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate on-average sex differences in global and regional brain volumes in newborns.
To examine sex-by-age interactions to understand early postnatal brain development trajectories.

Main Methods:

Utilized data from 514 newborns (0-28 days old) from the developing Human Connectome Project.
Assessed global and regional brain volumes, controlling for birth weight and total brain volume.
Analyzed sex-by-age interactions to identify developmental trends.

Main Results:

Males exhibited larger intracranial and total brain volumes on average.
Females had greater cortical gray matter volumes, while males had greater white matter volumes, after controlling for total brain volume.
Significant regional differences in gray and white matter were observed, with some showing sex-by-age interactions.

Conclusions:

Sex differences in brain structure are present at birth.
These differences appear relatively stable during early postnatal development.
Prenatal factors likely play a significant role in establishing early-life sex differences in the brain.