TY  - JOUR
AU  - Serio, Bianca
AU  - Hettwer, Meike D.
AU  - Wiersch, Lisa
AU  - Bignardi, Giacomo
AU  - Sacher, Julia
AU  - Weis, Susanne
AU  - Eickhoff, Simon B.
AU  - Valk, Sofie L.
TI  - Sex differences in functional cortical organization reflect differences in network topology rather than cortical morphometry
JO  - Nature Communications
VL  - 15
IS  - 1
SN  - 2041-1723
CY  - [London]
PB  - Nature Publishing Group UK
M1  - FZJ-2024-05457
SP  - 7714
PY  - 2024
AB  - Differences in brain size between the sexes are consistently reported. However, the consequences of this anatomical difference on sex differences in intrinsic brain function remain unclear. In the current study, we investigate whether sex differences in intrinsic cortical functional organization may be associated with differences in cortical morphometry, namely different measures of brain size, microstructure, and the geodesic distance of connectivity profiles. For this, we compute a low dimensional representation of functional cortical organization, the sensory-association axis, and identify widespread sex differences. Contrary to our expectations, sex differences in functional organization do not appear to be systematically associated with differences in total surface area, microstructural organization, or geodesic distance, despite these morphometric properties being per se associated with functional organization and differing between sexes. Instead, functional sex differences in the sensory-association axis are associated with differences in functional connectivity profiles and network topology. Collectively, our findings suggest that sex differences in functional cortical organization extend beyond sex differences in cortical morphometry.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - 39231965
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:001335948800015
DO  - DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-51942-1
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1030754
ER  -