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Main Effect and Interactions of Brain Regions and Gender in the Calculation of Volumetric Asymmetry Indices in Healthy Human Brains: Ancova Analyses of In Vivo 3T MRI Data
Author(s) -
RoldanValadez Ernesto,
Rios Camilo,
SuarezMay Marcela A.,
Favila Rafel,
AguilarCastañeda Erika
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the anatomical record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1932-8494
pISSN - 1932-8486
DOI - 10.1002/ar.22817
Subject(s) - brain asymmetry , psychology , voxel , parietal lobe , lateralization of brain function , limbic system , magnetic resonance imaging , multivariate statistics , temporal lobe , cerebellum , audiology , multivariate analysis , voxel based morphometry , amygdala , medicine , neuroscience , central nervous system , radiology , white matter , mathematics , statistics , epilepsy
Macroanatomical right‐left hemispheric differences in the brain are termed asymmetries, although there is no clear information on the global influence of gender and brain‐regions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the main effects and interactions of these variables on the measurement of volumetric asymmetry indices (VAIs). Materials and methods: Forty‐seven healthy young‐adult volunteers (23 males, 24 females) agreed to undergo brain magnetic resonance imaging in a 3T scanner. Image post processing using voxel‐based volumetry allowed the calculation of 54 VAIs from the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes, limbic system, basal ganglia, and cerebellum for each cerebral hemisphere. Multivariate ANCOVA analysis calculated the main effects and interactions on VAIs of gender and brain regions controlling the effect of age. Results: The only significant finding was the main effect of brain regions (F (6, 9373.605) 44.369, P < .001; partial η2 = .101, and power of 1.0), with no significant interaction between gender and brain regions (F (6, 50.517) .239, P = .964). Conclusion: Volumetric asymmetries are present across all brain regions, with larger values found in the limbic system and parietal lobe. The absence of a significant influence of gender and age in the evaluation of the numerous measurements generated by multivariate analyses in this study should not discourage researchers to report and interpret similar results, as this topic still deserves further assessment. Anat Rec, 296:1913–1922, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.