title: Morphometric and volumetric study of caudate and putamen nuclei in normal individuals by MRI: Effect of normal aging, gender and hemispheric differences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to determine age, gender, and hemispheric differences in the volume of the human neostriatum (striatum) nucleus in healthy humans.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was performed on 120 normal human subjects (60 males, 60 females, right-handed) 15-65 years old, divided into two groups: young (<40 yrs) and old (=≥40 yrs). Sectional brain images were obtained via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), analyzed and processed using the Image-J software, and the striatum volume was calculated using the Cavalieri's principle, retrospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The analyses revealed bilateral age-related shrinkage of the putamen in both genders and the putamen and caudate nucleus were significantly smaller in older than in younger subjects (P-value <0.001). The age-related shrinkage of the caudate and putamen nucleus in men and women was about 5%, 5% and 4%, 4%, respectively, and there were statistically significant volume differences between males and females (P-value <0.05). In both genders, a significant rightward asymmetry was observed in the caudate and putamen nucleus (3.89%, 4.21% in men and 4.51%, 3.32% in women).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bilateral age-related shrinkage and rightward asymmetry of the striate nucleus was found in healthy adults and there were significant volume differences between men and women. Obtained results provide useful baseline data on age and gender-related changes of the volume of the striatum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abedelahi
authors.forename: Hadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hasanzadeh
authors.forename: Homaioon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hadizadeh
authors.forename: Mohammad Taghi
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Joghataie
keywords: MRI; age; gender; morphometry; striate nucleus