Gender-Related Brain Differences Found

How and where the brain grows in the teen years may play a role in the emergence of some mental illnesses, a U.S. researcher said.

The study found areas of the brain with size differences occur not only between those with manic depressive illness and schizophrenia but also between sexes.

Future studies need to look at sex differences over time in order to understand more about these mental disorders and the information gleaned from these studies may help researchers determine how to best help children who suffer from these conditions, study leader Dr. Jean Frazier of the Harvard Medical School said in a statement. This may allow us to find improved treatment, perhaps in a sex-specific way.

Frazier and fellow researchers examined brain scans of 103 children and adolescents and found a brain structure involved in motivation and pleasure larger in children with bipolar disorder and an area where sensory information passes to the cerebral cortex smaller in children with schizophrenia.

When Frazier looked at the entire bipolar group compared to healthy children an area of the brain that plays a central role in memory was smaller in youth with bipolar disorder after puberty, particularly in girls.

The study findings were to be presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Boca Raton, Fla.