Gender differences in nigrostriatal dopaminergic innervation are present at young-to-middle but not at older age in normal adults

• Published in: Journal of clinical neuroscience Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 183 - 184
• Main Authors: Wong, Ka Kit, Müller, Martijn L.T.M., Kuwabara, Hiroto, Studenski, Stephanie A., Bohnen, Nicolaas I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Scotland Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aging; Aging - physiology; Basal ganglia; Corpus Striatum - diagnostic imaging; Corpus Striatum - metabolism; Dopamine; Dopamine - metabolism; Female; Gender; Humans; Male; Menopause; Middle Aged; Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging; Neural Pathways - metabolism; Neurology; Parkinson’s disease; Positron emission tomography; Radionuclide Imaging; Sex Characteristics; Substantia Nigra - diagnostic imaging; Substantia Nigra - metabolism; Basal ganglia; Dopamine; Menopause; Aging; Gender; Positron emission tomography; Parkinson’s disease
• ISSN: 0967-5868; 1532-2653; 1532-2653
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2011.05.013

Gender differences in brain dopaminergic activity have been variably reported in the literature. We performed an evaluation for gender effects on striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) binding in a group of normal subjects. Community-dwelling adults (n = 85, 50F/35M, mean age 62.7 ± 16.2 SD, range 20-85) underwent DAT [ 11C]2-β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-fluorophenyl) tropane (β-CFT) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Gender effects for DAT binding were compared using ANCOVA for two subgroups; young-to-middle aged adults and older adults, using an age threshold of 60 years. There were 54 subjects (24M/30F; mean age 72.9 ± 7.3) 60 years and older and 31 (11M/20F; mean age 45.0 ± 11.4) subjects younger than 60. Age-adjusted striatal DAT gender effects were present in the young-to-middle (F = 10.4, P = 0.003) but not in the elderly age group (F = 0.5, ns). Gender differences in nigrostriatal dopaminergic innervation are present, with higher levels of DAT binding in young-to-middle age women compared to men, but not present in the elderly.