Objective: To investigate the gender-related difference in the iron contents of the human brain.
Methods: The brain iron levels were evaluated in vivo in 78 healthy adult volunteers using a noninvasive magnetic resonance method termed susceptibility weighted phase imaging. The subjects consisted of 40 males and 38 females, with the mean age of 41.5+/-11.9 and 45.2+/-15.9, respectively. The phase values were measured on the corrected phase images in the globus pallidus, putamen, caudate, substantia nigra, red nucleus, thalamus and frontal white matter. Phase values of these regions measured from the subjects aged over 30 were correlated with published values of brain iron contents in normal adults to check the validity of the data. Covariance models were used to evaluate the gender effect on the brain iron concentration, with age as the covariate, controlling for the linear effects of age.
Results: A strongly negative correlation was showed between the phase values of this study and the reference values (r=-0.796, P=0.032). No significant gender-related difference in the brain iron concentration was found in any regions of interest (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Gender differences in the iron contents of the adult human brain are not found in this study.