title: Local brain connectivity and associations with gender and age.
abstract: Regional homogeneity measures synchrony of resting-state brain activity in neighboring voxels, or local connectivity. The effects of age and gender on local connectivity in healthy subjects are unknown. We performed regional homogeneity analyses on resting state BOLD time series data acquired from 58 normal, healthy participants, ranging in age from 11 to 35 (mean 18.1 ± 5.0 years, 32 males). Regional homogeneity was found to be highest for gray matter, with brain regions within the default mode network having the highest local connectivity values. There was a general decrease in regional homogeneity with age with the greatest reduction seen in the anterior cingulate and temporal lobe. Greater female local connectivity in the right hippocampus and amygdala was also noted, regardless of age. These findings suggest that local connectivity at the millimeter scale decreases during development as longer connections are formed, and underscores the importance of examining gender differences in imaging studies of healthy and clinical populations.
authors.affiliation: The Brain Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, United States. melissa.lopez-larson@hsc.utah.edu
authors.forename: Melissa P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Lopez-Larson
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yurgelun-Todd
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult