title: Brain metabolic differences as a function of hemisphere, writing hand preference, and gender.
abstract: A total of 35 university-educated normal men (24 right handwriters and 11 left handwriters) and 36 age- and education-matched women (25 right handwriters and 11 left handwriters) underwent a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy examination in seven 8 cm(3) voxels including the right and left frontal lobe tips, the right and left mid-temporal lobes, the right and left thalami, and the hypothalamus. Dependent measures were N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline-containing compounds (Cho) and creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr) metabolite peak area ratios relative to total H(2)O. As expected, thalamic grey matter contained higher NAA ratios than telencephalic voxels (containing white and grey matter) (p < .001). The thalamic Cr/ H(2)O ratio was higher on the right, but the opposite asymmetry was observed for the temporal lobe (p < .05). Women had a higher left frontal NAA/ H(2)O ratio than men, but men had a higher hypothalamic NAA/ H(2)O ratio than women. Right-handers had a higher temporal lobe NAA/H(2)O ratio than left-handers, particularly in the left hemisphere. In addition, several significant 2- and 3-way interactions between writing hand preference, gender, and hemisphere were observed, but only in the frontal lobe.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neurosciences Cognitives, UQAM, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Braun.Claude@UQAM.CA
authors.forename: C M J
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Boulanger
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Labelle
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khiat
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mailloux