Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38470896›Full record

ArticlePloS one2024

White matter microstructure in transmasculine and cisgender adolescents: A multiparametric and multivariate study.

Lindsey T Thurston, Malvina N Skorska, Nancy J Lobaugh, Kenneth J Zucker, M Mallar Chakravarty, Meng-Chuan Lai, Sofia Chavez, Doug P VanderLaan

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 41% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Lindsey T ThurstonDepartment of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-2001-1439
Malvina N SkorskaCampbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-9081-5497
Nancy J LobaughBrain Health Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Kenneth J ZuckerDepartment of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
M Mallar ChakravartyCerebral Imaging Centre, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Ontario, Canada.
Meng-Chuan LaiCampbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-9593-5508
Sofia ChavezBrain Health Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Doug P VanderLaanDepartment of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-4498-9175
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health · CAUniversity of Toronto · CADouglas Mental Health University Institute · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Adolescence is a sensitive developmental period for neural sex/gender differentiation. The present study used multiparametric mapping to better characterize adolescent white matter (WM) microstructure. WM microstructure was investigated using diffusion tensor indices (fractional anisotropy; mean, radial, and axial diffusivity [AD]) and quantitative T1 relaxometry (T1) in hormone therapy naïve adolescent cisgender girls, cisgender boys, and transgender boys (i.e., assigned female at birth and diagnosed with gender dysphoria). Diffusion indices were first analyzed for group differences using tract-based spatial statistics, which revealed a group difference in AD. Thus, two multiparametric and multivariate analyses assessed AD in conjunction with T1 relaxation time, and with respect to developmental proxy variables (i.e., age, serum estradiol, pubertal development, sexual attraction) thought to be relevant to adolescent brain development. The multivariate analyses showed a shared pattern between AD and T1 such that higher AD was associated with longer T1, and AD and T1 strongly related to all five developmental variables in cisgender boys (10 significant correlations, r range: 0.21-0.73). There were fewer significant correlations between the brain and developmental variables in cisgender girls (three correlations, r range: -0.54-0.54) and transgender boys (two correlations, r range: -0.59-0.77). Specifically, AD related to direction of sexual attraction (i.e., gynephilia, androphilia) in all groups, and T1 related to estradiol inversely in cisgender boys compared with transgender boys. These brain patterns may be indicative of less myelination and tissue density in cisgender boys, which corroborates other reports of protracted WM development in cisgender boys. Further, these findings highlight the importance of considering developmental trajectory when assessing the subtleties of neural structure associated with variations in sex, gender, and sexual attraction.

Indexed as

Transgender PersonsWhite MatterAdolescentBrainDiffusion Magnetic Resonance ImagingEstradiolFemaleGender IdentityHumansMaleEstradiol

Identifiers

PMID38470896
PMCPMC10931471
OpenAlexW4392697010

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.