Magnetic resonance image-based cerebellar volumetry in healthy Korean adults

doi:10.1016/S0304-3940(99)00487-5

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 270, Issue 3, 6 August 1999, Pages 149-152

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3940(99)00487-5 Get rights and content

Abstract

The effects of age and gender on cerebellar size have not been established yet. To understand these effects, the area of cerebellar vermis and the volume of cerebellum were measured using serial magnetic resonance images of 124 Korean adults free of neurologic symptoms and signs. Cerebellar volume of male was significantly larger than that of female, although the size of vermis did not show significant gender difference. Correlation analysis revealed that cerebellar volume was not affected by aging. Regressional analysis demonstrated that female vermis had a tendency to shrink after age of 50, whereas male vermis and total cerebellar volume in both sexes were not altered with aging. The different response of vermis with aging and maintenance of cerebellum volume need to be more explored.

Section snippets

Acknowledgements

This data might be used for a valuable reference for various comparison study of cerebellar size in many physiological [19], pathological conditions [10], [16], and in different races.

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Though commonly thought of as a “motor structure”, we now know that the cerebellum's reciprocal connections to the cerebral cortex underlie contributions to both motor and non-motor behavior. Further, recent research has shown that cerebellar dysfunction may contribute to a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, there has been little characterization of normative variability at the level of cerebellar structure that can facilitate and further our understanding of disease biomarkers. In this manuscript we examine normative variation of the cerebellum using data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP). The Multiple Automatically Generated Templates (MAGeT) segmentation tool was used to identify the cerebella and 33 anatomically-defined lobules from 327 individuals from the HCP. To characterize normative variation, we estimated population mean volume and variability, assessed differences in hemisphere and sex, and related lobular volume to motor and non-motor behavior. We found that the effects of hemisphere and sex were not homogeneous across all lobules of the cerebellum. Greater volume in the right hemisphere was primarily driven by lobules Crus I, II, and H VIIB, with H VIIIA exhibiting the greatest left>right asymmetry. Relative to total cerebellar gray-matter volume, females had larger Crus II (known to be connected with non-motor regions of the cerebral cortex) while males had larger motor-connected lobules including H V, and VIIIA/B. When relating lobular volume to memory, motor performance, and emotional behavior, we found some evidence for relationships that have previously been identified in the literature. Our observations of normative cerebellar structure and variability in young adults provide evidence for lobule-specific differences in volume and the relationship with sex and behavior – indicating that the cerebellum cannot be considered a single structure with uniform function, but as a set of regions with functions that are likely as diverse as their connectivity with the cerebral cortex.
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In a population-based study of 3962 community-dwelling nondemented elderly we investigated the relation of age, sex, cardiovascular risk factors, and the presence of infarcts with cerebellar volume, and its interrelationship with cerebral volumes. Cerebellar and cerebral gray and white matter were segmented using Freesurfer version 4.5 (http://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/). We used linear regression analyses to model the relationship between age, sex, cardiovascular risk factors, brain infarcts, white matter lesions (WMLs) and cerebellar and cerebral volume. Smaller cerebellar volumes with increasing age were mainly driven by loss of white matter. Diabetes, higher serum glucose and lower cholesterol levels were related to smaller cerebellar volume. No association was found between hypertension, smoking, apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype, and cerebellar volume. Supratentorial lacunar infarcts and WMLs were related to smaller cerebellar volume. Infratentorial infarcts were related to smaller cerebellar white matter volume and total cerebral volume. This study suggests that determinants of cerebellar volume do not entirely overlap with those established for cerebral volume. Furthermore, presence of infarcts or WMLs in the cerebrum can affect cerebellar volume.
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However, the differences do not always favor men. In another sample, women showed greater volume of medial cerebellar hemispheres and the lobules VI and VII after adjustment for the total cerebellar size (Rhyu et al., 1999). Here, after adjustment for TIV, the results did not show significantly greater cerebellar GM volume in female group.
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Magnetic resonance image-based cerebellar volumetry in healthy Korean adults

Abstract

Section snippets

Acknowledgements

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Biol. Psychiatry

Neurobiol. Aging

Sex differences in the corpus callosum of the living human being

J. Neurosci.

Magnetic resonance imaging measurement of posterior fossa structures in schizophrenia

Am. J. Psychiatry

Quantitative cerebral anatomy of the aging human brain: a cross-sectional study using magnetic resonance imaging

Neurology

Norms for some structural changes in the human cerebellum from birth to old age

J. Comp. Neurol.

In vivo stereological assessment of human cerebellar volume: effects of gender and age

Am. J. Neuroradiol.

The young adult human brain: an MRI-based morphometric analysis

Cereb. Cortex

Development and aging of brain midline structures: assessment with MR imaging

Radiology