Skip to content
PaperFren

brain-development

Do mouse sex differences in brain volume match humans?

Guma E, Beauchamp A, Liu S, et al. · eLife · 2024

Open access · cc0 · source: Europe PMC

Human males have larger/more variable total brain volume (mice do not); after TTV control, sex-effect sizes across 60 homologous regions correlate modestly (r=0.30), higher in cortex, tracking congruence of 2835 homologous genes.

Study at a glance

Design
Cross-sectional — Comparative structural MRI of sex differences in human and mouse brains plus regional gene-expression congruence
N
N=1522 · Humans 597F/496M; mice 213F/216M (TTV analysis)
Population
Healthy young adult humans and mice with homologous regional atlases
Outcome
Cross-species congruence of volumetric sex effects and linked gene-expression profiles

Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.

Key findings

Humans: males ~13.5% larger TTV; mice: no significant TTV sex difference. After TTV correction, ~65.8% of human and ~58.6% of mouse regions showed sex differences. Cross-species volumetric sex-effect congruence r=0.30 overall (cortex r=0.33; non-cortex r=0.16), aligning with expression congruence of 2835 homologous genes especially in primary sensory cortex.

Methodology

Used structural MRI to compare sex differences in total and regional volumes between humans and mice, then related regional volumetric sex-effect congruence to cross-species gene-expression profiles.

Limitations

Congruence is correlational and atlas-dependent; it does not prove shared developmental mechanisms for every homologous region.

How this study connects

Role on claims

Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.

Not yet placed on a claim. This paper has study layers, but no concept page yet cites it as support, challenge, or qualifier.

Related papers in this topic

Same topic cluster — not a recommendation engine.