Live Eikenes1, Eelke Visser2, Asta Hberg1
1Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 2Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
White matter (WM) microstructure were studied at the population level in a cohort of 1006 healthy participants (50-65 years) using a new automated tractography method and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). The tractography results demonstrated that mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and volume of corpus callosum was higher in males compared to females. TBSS showed decreased FA in large areas of the white matter with increasing age, and higher FA in females than males in the occipital lobe, and higher FA in males than females in the deep central WM structures and in association tracts in the frontal and temporal lobes.