A morphometeric magnetic resonance imaging study of age and gender-related volumetric changes of putamen nucleus in healthy humans

The purpose of this study was to determine the age, sex, and hemispheric differences in volume of the human putamen nucleus in right-handed healthy humans. This study was performed on 120 normal human subjects (60 males, 60 females) 15–65 years old that was divided into young (<40 years) and old (≥40 years) groups. The sectional brain images obtained via magnetic resonance imaging was analyzed and processed using the image-J software and the putamen volume was calculated using the Cavalieri’s principle. The analyses revealed bilateral age-related shrinkage of the putamen in both sexes and the putamen was significantly smaller in older than younger subjects (P <0.001). The age-related shrinkage of the putamen in men and women was about 20.49% and 16.79%, respectively. There were no statistically significant volume differences between males and females. There were significant negative correlations between age and the volumes of the putamen nucleus. In both sexes, a significant rightward asymmetry was observed in the putamen (4.21% in men and 3.32% in women). Bilateral age-related shrinkage and rightward asymmetry of the putamen was found in normal humans and there were no volume differences between men and women. Results provide useful baseline data to the age and sex-related change of the volume of putamen.