Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation Differences Between the Brains of Young Men and Young Women: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Objective: This study aimed to study the gender differences of healthy adults' brains using resting-state functional magnetic resonance (rs-fMRI). Methods: Forty-four (44) healthy young adults (22 male and 22 female) were examined via resting-state fMRI. We employed the method of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in rs-fMRI analysis to study gender-based differences in the brains of men and women. Results: (1) The ALFF in the female group was significantly lower than the fluctuations in the male group in the area of the left thalamus, the right medial temporal gyrus, the left superior temporal gyrus, the left middle frontal gyrus, the right superior occipital gyrus, the left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus, the left medial frontal gyrus, and the left precuneus. (2) The zALFF in the right middle occipital gyrus, the left superior occipital gyrus, and the left middle frontal gyrus was markedly lower in the female group than in the male group, whereas the zALFF in the female group in the right angular gyrus was significantly higher than that in the male group. (3) The mALFF in the left middle frontal gyrus declined significantly in the female group compared to the male group, while the mALFF in the left inferior temporal gyrus in the female group was significantly higher than that in the male group. (4) Substantially lower fALFF was observed in the female group in the right inferior temporal gyrus than in the male group. Conclusion: The results show that men have more advantages in areas of the brain that dominate sports, hearing, and visual space, while the brains of women are superior in the regions of episodic memory ability.