Effects of age and gender on spatial orientation of human corpus callosum in healthy Koreans

The changes in the corpus callosum (CC) with age and gender remain largely subject to dispute, which might come from the different strategies for analyzing the size and shape of CC. We have investigated this issue by measuring some variables reflecting the spatial orientation of CC on magnetic resonance imaging in Koreans, which minimize individual variances in the brain. The subjects were composed of young adults in their twenties (51 male, 59 female) and elderly adults in their sixties and seventies (60 male, 71 female). The total area of CC, length and height of CC, the central angle and the four angles suggested by Oka et al. were measured. The whole area and the central angle of CC were not significantly affected by age and gender. The height and length of CC were significantly greater in elderly people. The angle connecting genu, upper notch of pons and splenium was significantly larger in the elderly group. Furthermore, all four angles were significantly different between male and female subjects. These results confirm that the spatial orientation of CC is influenced by age and gender.