Sexual dimorphism of neuroglial relationships in the frontal fields of the human brain.

Cytoglioarchitectonic and quantitative methods were used to study the characteristics of neuroglial relationships in fields in the frontal areas of the male and female brains. Series of frontal paraffin sections of thickness 20 microm stained by the Nissl method were used to study fields 8, 12, 47, and 10. In layers III and V of the right and left hemispheres, the densities of pyramidal neurons (N), satellite gliocytes (SG), and N surrounded by SG (SN) per 0.001 mm3, and the SN/N ratio (%) were useful measures of the functional-metabolic activity of the brain. In women, SG, SN, and SN/N were higher in fields 12, 47, and 10 than in men, but were lower in field 8. It is suggested that cortical N have greater metabolic activity in women in emotional-volitional and "intellectual" structures, while men have more N in the motor areas.