An old adage may state "Men age like a fine wine, while women age like a glass of milk," but a team of scientists has found that men's brains age faster than women.
The University of Szeged researchers drew their conclusions from scanning the brains of 53 men and 50 women, with an average age of 32. The results showed differences between the sexes in their sub cortical brain structures, the Daily Mail reported.
The study found that men lose more matter than women in the caudate nucleus and the putamen volume, the part of the brain that deals with movement and emotional processing. The researchers wrote "Strikingly, grey matter volume decreases faster in males than in females emphasising the interplay between ageing and gender on sub cortical structures."
They added that changes of sub cortical structures have been consistently related to several neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g. Parkinson's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, etc.). Understanding these changes might yield further insight in the course and prognosis of these disorders. It was also shown that the thalamus (brain's main relay station for passing information around the brain) is also impacted. Researchers noted their work may be able to inform treatment of other neurological disorders like ADHD.
The study is published in the journal Brain Imaging and Behaviour.
