www.elsevier.com/locate/jocn
Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 13 (2006) 60–72
Clinical study
Cerebral cortex: An MRI-based study of volume and variance
with age and sex
Ross P. Carne a,c,*, Simon Vogrin a, Lucas Litewka a, Mark J. Cook a,b
a Victorian Epilepsy Centre at St. Vincents Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
b Department of Medicine, St. Vincents Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
c Department of Neuroscience, Geelong Hospital, Ryrie St, Geelong, Victoria 3220, Australia
Received 30 November 2004; accepted 28 February 2005
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to examine quantitative differences in lobar cerebral cortical volumes in a healthy adult population.
Quantitative volumetric MRI of whole brain, cerebral and cerebellar volumes was performed in a cross-sectional analysis of 97 normal
volunteers, with segmented frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital cortical volumes measured in a subgroup of 60 subjects, 30 male and
30 female, matched for age and sex. The right cerebral hemisphere was larger than the left across the study group with a small (<1%) but
significant difference in symmetry (P < 0.001). No difference was found between volumes of right and left cerebellar hemispheres. Right-
ward cerebral cortical asymmetry (right larger than left) was found to be significant across all lobes except parietal. Males had greater
cerebral, cerebellar and cerebral cortical lobar volumes than females. Larger male cerebral cortical volumes were seen in all lobes except
for left parietal. Females had greater left parietal to left cerebral hemisphere and smaller left temporal to left cerebral hemisphere ratios.
There was a mild reduction in cerebral volumes with age, more marked in males. This study confirms and augments past work indicating
underlying structural asymmetries in the human brain, and provides further evidence that brain structures in humans are differentially
sensitive to the effects of both age and sex.
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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