The influence of sex steroids on structural brain maturation in adolescence

PLoS One. 2014 Jan 8;9(1):e83929. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083929. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Puberty reflects a period of hormonal changes, physical maturation and structural brain reorganization. However, little attention has been paid to what extent sex steroids and pituitary hormones are associated with the refinement of brain maturation across adolescent development. Here we used high-resolution structural MRI scans from 215 typically developing individuals between ages 8-25, to examine the association between cortical thickness, surface area and (sub)cortical brain volumes with luteinizing hormone, testosterone and estradiol, and pubertal stage based on self-reports. Our results indicate sex-specific differences in testosterone related influences on gray matter volumes of the anterior cingulate cortex after controlling for age effects. No significant associations between subcortical structures and sex hormones were found. Pubertal stage was not a stronger predictor than chronological age for brain anatomical differences. Our findings indicate that sex steroids are associated with cerebral gray matter morphology in a sex specific manner. These hormonal and morphological differences may explain in part differences in brain development between boys and girls.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Brain / anatomy & histology*
  • Brain / growth & development*
  • Child
  • Demography
  • Estradiol / metabolism
  • Female
  • Gonadal Steroid Hormones / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Organ Size
  • Puberty / physiology
  • Regression Analysis
  • Testosterone / metabolism
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Gonadal Steroid Hormones
  • Testosterone
  • Estradiol

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) Innovational research grant 451-10-007(JSP), and an European Research Council (ERC) starting grant 2010-StG-263234(EAC). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.