The human corpus striatum and dentate nucleus: volumetric analysis for hemispheric asymmetries, sex differences, and aging changes.

The corpus striatum and the dentate nucleus were examined for volumetric asymmetries, sex differences in volume, and for aging changes in volume in a sample of 27 human brains ranging in age from 281 days of gestation to 94 years of age. No statistically significant hemispheric asymmetries were found, and no sex differences in volume or in degree of hemispheric asymmetry were found. It was found that the volumes of the corpus striatum and the dentate nucleus decrease in relation to the volume of the whole hemisphere with aging, but the rate of decrease is different before than after sexual maturity. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to lateralization of motor functioning, sex differences in the brain, and aging changes in the brain.