4.7 Article

Sex differences in pubertal associations with fronto-accumbal white matter morphometry: Implications for understanding sensitivity to reward and punishment

期刊

NEUROIMAGE
卷 226, 期 -, 页码 -

出版社

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117598

关键词

Adolescence; Puberty; White matter; Fronto-accumbal tract; Reward and punishment sensitivity; Sex differences

资金

  1. National Institutes of Health (NIH) [R37MH101495, F32MH120975, K01MH117442]
  2. Stanford University Precision Health and Integrated Diagnostics Center (PHIND)

向作者/读者索取更多资源

Researchers have found sex differences in white matter maturation during puberty, with males showing a positive association between pubertal stage and fronto-accumbal fiber density, while females did not exhibit this relationship. Additionally, males reported higher reward sensitivity than females, and only males showed a negative association between fronto-accumbal tract FDC and sensitivity to punishment. These findings suggest that there are sex differences in the maturation of the fronto-accumbal tract during puberty, and this may relate to lower punishment sensitivity in adolescent males compared to females.
Researchers have reported sex-differentiated maturation of white matter (WM) during puberty. It is not clear, however, whether such distinctions contribute to documented sex differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment during adolescence. Given the role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in reward and punishment-related behaviors, we tested in a cross-sectional study whether males and females (N = 156, 89 females; ages 9-14 years) differ in the association between pubertal stage and fixel-based morphometry of WM fibers connecting the OFC and NAcc (i.e., the fronto-accumbal tract). Further, we examined whether males and females differ in associations between fronto-accumbal WM measures and self-reported sensitivity to reward and punishment. Pubertal stage was positively associated with fronto-accumbal fiber density and cross-section (FDC) in males, but not in females. Consistent with previous reports, males reported higher reward sensitivity than did females, although fronto-accumbal combined FDC was not related to reward sensitivity in either sex. Meanwhile, only males showed a negative association between fronto-accumbal tract FDC and sensitivity to punishment. Follow-up analyses revealed that fiber cross-section, but not density, was related to pubertal stage and punishment sensitivity in males, as well as to reward sensitivity in all participants. Our findings suggest there are sex differences in puberty-related maturation of the fronto-accumbal tract, and this tract is related to lower punishment sensitivity in adolescent males compared to females.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.7
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据