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Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 11, No. 6, 490-497, June 2001
© 2001 Oxford University Press

Normal Sexual Dimorphism of the Adult Human Brain Assessed by In Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Jill M. Goldstein1,2,3, Larry J. Seidman1,2,3, Nicholas J. Horton4, Nikos Makris5, David N. Kennedy5, Verne S. Caviness, Jr5, Stephen V. Faraone1,2,3 and Ming T. Tsuang1,2,3,6

1 Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, MA 02115, , 2 Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry at Brockton/West Roxbury VA Medical Center, Brockton, MA and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, , 3 Harvard Institute of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Boston, MA 02115, , 4 Boston University Schools of Public Health (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics) and Medicine, Boston, MA, , 5 Harvard Medical School Departments of Neurology and Radiology Services, Center for Morphometric Analysis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02129 and , 6 Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA

The etiology and consistency of findings on normal sexual dimorphisms of the adult human brain are unresolved. In this study, we present a comprehensive evaluation of normal sexual dimorphisms of cortical and subcortical brain regions, using in vivo magnetic resonance imaging, in a community sample of 48 normal adults. The men and women were similar in age, education, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, general intelligence and handedness. Forty-five brain regions were assessed based on T1-weighted three-dimensional images acquired from a 1.5 T magnet. Sexual dimorphisms of adult brain volumes were more evident in the cortex, with women having larger volumes, relative to cerebrum size, particularly in frontal and medial paralimbic cortices. Men had larger volumes, relative to cerebrum size, in frontomedial cortex, the amygdala and hypothalamus. A permutation test showed that, compared to other brain areas assessed in this study, there was greater sexual dimorphism among brain areas that are homologous with those identified in animal studies showing greater levels of sex steroid receptors during critical periods of brain development. These findings have implications for developmental studies that would directly test hypotheses about mechanisms relating sex steroid hormones to sexual dimorphisms in humans.


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