Human subcortical brain asymmetries in 15,847 people worldwide reveal effects of age and sex

• DOI: 10.1007/s11682-016-9629-z
• Publication Date: 2016-10-13T10:26:10Z
• Authors: Tulio Guadalupe; Samuel R. Mathias; Theo G. M. vanErp; Christopher D. Wh...; Marcel P. Zwiers; Yoshinari Abe; Lucija Abramovic; Ingrid Agartz; Ole A. Andreassen; Alejandro Arias-V...; Benjamin S. Aribi...; Nicola J. Armstrong; Volker Arolt; Eric Artiges; Rosa Ayesa-Arriola; Vatche G. Baboyan; Tobias Banaschewski; Gareth Barker; Mark E. Bastin; Bernhard T. Baune; John Blangero; Arun L.W. Bokde; Premika S.W. Boedhoe; Anushree Bose; Silvia Brem; Henry Brodaty; Uli Bromberg; Samantha Brooks; Christian Büchel; Jan Buitelaar; Vince D. Calhoun; Dara M. Cannon; Anna Cattrell; Yuqi Cheng; Patricia J. Conrod; Annette Conzelmann; Aiden Corvin; Benedicto Crespo-...; Fabrice Crivello; Udo Dannlowski; Greig I. de Zubic...; Sonja M.C. de Zwarte; Ian J. Deary; Sylvane Desrivières; Nhat Trung Doan; Gary Donohoe; Erlend S. Dørum; Stefan Ehrlich; Thomas Espeseth; Guillén Fernández; Herta Flor; Jean-Paul Fouche; Vincent Frouin; Masaki Fukunaga; Jürgen Gallinat; Hugh Garavan; Michael Gill; Andrea Gonzalez S...; Penny Gowland; Hans J. Grabe; Dominik Grotegerd; Oliver Gruber; Saskia Hagenaars; Ryota Hashimoto; Tobias U. Hauser; Andreas Heinz; Derrek P. Hibar; Pieter J. Hoekstra; Martine Hoogman; Fleur M. Howells; Hao Hu; Hilleke E. Hulsho...; Chaim Huyser; Bernd Ittermann; Neda Jahanshad; Erik G. Jönsson; Sarah Jurk; Rene S. Kahn; Sinead Kelly; Bernd Kraemer; Harald Kugel; Jun Soo Kwon; Herve Lemaitre; Klaus-Peter Lesch; Christine Lochner; Michelle Luciano; Andre F. Marquand; Nicholas G. Martin; Ignacio Martínez-...; Jean-Luc Martinot; David Mataix-Cols; Karen Mather; Colm McDonald; Katie L. McMahon; Sarah E. Medland; José M. Menchón; Derek W. Morris; Omar Mothersill; Susana Munoz Maniega; Benson Mwangi; Takashi Nakamae; Tomohiro Nakao; Janardhanan C. Na...; Frauke Nees; Jan E. Nordvik; A. Marten H. Onnink; Nils Opel; Roel Ophoff; Marie-Laure Paill...; Dimitri Papadopou...; Paul Pauli; Tomáš Paus; Luise Poustka; Janardhan YC. Reddy; Miguel E. Renteria; Roberto Roiz-Sant...; Annerine Roos; Natalie A. Royle; Perminder Sachdev; Pascual Sánchez-Juan; Lianne Schmaal; Gunter Schumann; Elena Shumskaya; Michael N. Smolka; Jair C. Soares; Carles Soriano-Mas; Dan J. Stein; Lachlan T. Strike; Roberto Toro; Jessica A. Turner; Nathalie Tzourio-...; Anne Uhlmann; Maria Valdés Hern...; Odile A. van den ...; Dennis van der Meer; Neeltje E.M . van...; Dick J. Veltman; Ganesan Venkatasu...; Nora C. Vetter; Daniella Vuletic; Susanne Walitza; Henrik Walter; Esther Walton; Zhen Wang; Joanna Wardlaw; Wei Wen; Lars T. Westlye; Robert Whelan; Katharina Wittfeld; Thomas Wolfers; Margaret J. Wright; Jian Xu; Xiufeng Xu; Je-Yeon Yun; JingJing Zhao; Barbara Franke; Paul M. Thompson; David C. Glahn; Bernard Mazoyer; Simon E. Fisher; Clyde Francks
• Keywords: Putamen; Human brain; Brain asymmetry

The two hemispheres of the human brain differ functionally and structurally. Despite over a century research, extent to which asymmetry is influenced by sex, handedness, age, genetic factors still controversial. Here we present largest ever analysis subcortical asymmetries, in harmonized multi-site study using meta-analysis methods. Volumetric seven structures was assessed 15,847 MRI scans from 52 datasets worldwide. There were sex differences globus pallidus putamen. Heritability estimates, derived 1170 subjects belonging 71 extended pedigrees, revealed that additive these hippocampus thalamus. Handedness had no detectable effect on even this unprecedented sample size, but putamen varied with age. Genetic drivers hippocampus, thalamus basal ganglia may affect variability cognition, including susceptibility psychiatric disorders.