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Asymmetric regional cerebral blood flow in sedated baboons measured by positron emission tomography (PET)
Author(s) -
Kaufman Jason A.,
PhillipsConroy Jane E.,
Black Kevin J.,
Perlmutter Joel S.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.10181
Subject(s) - cerebral blood flow , positron emission tomography , brain asymmetry , asymmetry , pathological , blood flow , human brain , psychology , positron , medicine , cardiology , nuclear medicine , neuroscience , lateralization of brain function , physics , quantum mechanics , electron
The analysis of structural brain asymmetry has been a focal point in anthropological theories of human brain evolution and the development of lateralized behaviors. While physiological brain asymmetries have been documented for humans and animals presenting with pathological conditions or under certain activation tasks, published studies on baseline asymmetries in healthy individuals have produced conflicting results. We tested for the presence of cerebral blood flow asymmetries in 7 healthy, sedated baboons using positron emission tomography, a method of in vivo autoradiography. Five of the 7 baboons exhibited hemispheric asymmetries in which left‐sided flow was significantly greater than right‐sided flow. Furthermore, the degree of asymmetry in 8 of 24 brain regions was found to be significantly correlated with age; older individuals exhibited a higher degree of asymmetry than younger individuals. Cerebral blood flow itself was uncorrelated with age, and differences between males and females were not significant. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.