Abstract #4487

Assessing Sex Differences in the Brain’s White Matter Microstructure during Development using the Tensor Distribution Function

Sebastian M. Benavidez¹, Katherine E. Lawrence¹, Emily Laltoo¹, James T. McCracken², and Paul M. Thompson¹

¹Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging & Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA, United States, ²Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Synopsis

Keywords: Signal Modeling, MicrostructureDiffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) can detect sex differences in developmental populations, as shown previously using the conventional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) model. However, DTI cannot model complex brain fiber orientations, which the advanced tensor distribution function (TDF) model does. Here we compared the two models’ sensitivity in detecting sex differences, with the goal of improving our understanding of WM sex differences during development. We discovered WM microstructure sex effects, with the TDF model detecting more regions with significant differences and yielding larger effect sizes. Our results suggest that TDF is better able to detect developmental sex effects on WM.

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