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Sex-specific association between prenatal androgenization (second-to-fourth digit length ratio) and frontal brain volumes in adolescents

Prenatal androgenization associates sex-dependently with behavior and mental health in adolescence and adulthood, including risk-taking, emotionality, substance use, and depression. However, still little is known on how it affects underlying neural correlates, like frontal brain control regions. Thu...

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Main Authors: Lenz, Bernd (Author) , Gerhardt, Sarah (Author) , Boroumand-Jazi, Rafat (Author) , Eichler, Anna (Author) , Buchholz, Verena Nadine (Author) , Fasching, Peter Andreas (Author) , Kornhuber, Johannes (Author) , Banaschewski, Tobias (Author) , Flor, Herta (Author) , Guldner, Stella (Author) , Prignitz, Maren (Author) , Nees, Frauke (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: September 2023
In: European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience
Year: 2023, Volume: 273, Issue: 6, Pages: 1243-1254
ISSN:1433-8491
DOI:10.1007/s00406-022-01515-4
Online Access:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-022-01515-4
Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00406-022-01515-4
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Author Notes:Bernd Lenz, Sarah Gerhardt, Rafat Boroumand-Jazi, Anna Eichler, Verena Nadine Buchholz, Peter A. Fasching, Johannes Kornhuber, Tobias Banaschewski, Herta Flor, Stella Guldner, Maren Prignitz, Frauke Nees, IMAC-Mind Consortium
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Summary:Prenatal androgenization associates sex-dependently with behavior and mental health in adolescence and adulthood, including risk-taking, emotionality, substance use, and depression. However, still little is known on how it affects underlying neural correlates, like frontal brain control regions. Thus, we tested whether prenatal androgen load is sex-dependently related to frontal cortex volumes in a sex-balanced adolescent sample. In a cross-sectional magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined 61 adolescents (28 males, 33 females; aged 14 or 16 years) and analyzed associations of frontal brain region volumes with the second-to-fourth digit length ratio (2D:4D), an established marker for prenatal androgenization, using voxel-based morphometry in a region-of-interest approach. Lower 2D:4D (indicative of higher prenatal androgen load) correlated significantly with smaller volumes of the right anterior cingulate cortex (r-ACC; β = 0.45) in male adolescents and with larger volumes of the left inferior frontal gyrus orbital part (l-IFGorb; β = - 0.38) in female adolescents. The regression slopes of 2D:4D on the r-ACC also differed significantly between males and females. The study provides novel evidence that prenatal androgenization may influence the development of the frontal brain in a sex- and frontal brain region-specific manner. These effects might contribute to the well-known sex differences in risk-taking, emotionality, substance use, and depression. Future research is needed to elucidate the role of prenatal androgenization within the biopsychosocial model.
Item Description:Online veröffentlicht: 30. November 2022
Gesehen am 02.07.2024
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1433-8491
DOI:10.1007/s00406-022-01515-4

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