Evaluation of cerebrum volume of children 1-5 years old

Total brain volume and regional brain size can vary in men and women. Sexual dimorphism between the male and female brain starts in the fetal period under the influence of genetic and hormonal factors. In addition, the newborn brain begins to change in terms of both brain volume and morphology. In the present study, we evaluated gender-related changes in brain volume in children 1-5 years old. Magnetic resonance images of 30 healthy children aged 1-5 years old (15 male, 15 female) were obtained from the Department of Radiology, Meram School of Medicine, University of Necmettin Erbakan. The Cavalieri method and point-counting were used to determine the brain hemisphere volumes from these images. The mean volumes of the right cerebrum in female and male children were 423.26 +/- 110.62 cm(3) and 456.43 +/- 161.39 cm(3), respectively, and those of the left cerebrum were 416.41 +/- 103.51 cm(3) and 460.42 +/- 154.99 cm(3), respectively. There were no significant differences in cerebrum hemisphere volumes between male and female children 1-5 years old (P > 0.05).