The preliminary DTI study of sex difference of corpus callosum in normal adults

Objective:To explore the values of DTI in demonstrating the microstrcture of corpus callosum in normal adults. Methods: 61 healthy adults (20-30 yea older, male 30, female 31 )underwent conventional MRI and DTI. DTI was performed using single shot SE-EPI sequence. b value was 1 000s·mm-2. The diffusion was measured along 13 directions. FA (fractional anisotropy) in genu and splenium of corpus callosum was measured respectively. Statistical analysis was performed. Results: Increased anisotropy was presented in male group in both genu and splenium of corpus callosum. The mean FA of males was 0.724±0.04 and females 0.698±0.05 in genu of corpus callosum. The difference of mean FA between male and female groups was statistically significant (P0.05). The difference of FA in splenium of corpus callosum was significant too, which was 0.716±0.05 for males and 0.695±0.05 for females. Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence for sex difference in the genu and splenium of corpus callosum in normal adults via DTI. DTI permits the quantitative analysis for the direction and arrangement of white matter in vivo non- invasively.