Reproducible sex differences in personalised functional network topography in youth.
Arielle S Keller1,2, Kevin Y Sun3,4,5, Ashley Francisco3,5
1Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA.
Summary
Sex differences in brain functional network organization emerge during adolescence. These distinct patterns in personalized functional networks (PFNs) in males and females may help explain higher rates of anxiety and depression in females.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Understanding sex-specific psychiatric disorders requires examining brain organization changes from childhood to adolescence.
- Individual differences in functional brain network spatial organization are linked to psychopathology and vary by sex.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of sex on the spatial organization of person-specific functional brain networks in adolescents.
Main Methods:
- Utilized person-specific functional brain network atlases from 6,437 adolescents (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study).
- Employed generalized additive models to analyze sex-based associations with personalized functional network (PFN) topography.
- Trained support vector machines to classify sex based on PFN topography patterns.
Main Results:
- Significant sex differences in PFN topography were observed, particularly in association networks (frontoparietal, ventral attention, default mode).
- Machine learning models accurately classified participant sex using PFN topography data.
Conclusions:
- Sex differences in PFN topography are robust and replicable in large youth samples.
- These findings suggest a potential neurobiological basis for the increased risk of depression and anxiety in females during adolescence.
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