Sex and age differences in brain metabolism and cognition in adolescents.
Overview
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
- Emory Sports Performance and Research Center (SPARC), Flowery Branch, GA, United States
- Emory Sports Medicine Center, Atlanta, GA, United States
- Department of Orthopaedics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
- Department of Veterans Affairs, Atlanta VA Medical Center, Decatur, GA, United States
- Department of Radiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States
- Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
- Division of Sports Medicine, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
Abstract
Adolescence is a period of neural development, marked by maturation of brain structure and function. While sex- and age-related markers of structural brain development are documented, neurochemical and cognitive changes are less understood. Our goal was to evaluate neurochemistry and cognition in adolescents as a function of sex and age. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy quantified brain metabolites, and attention networking, digital trail making, and cued task switching tests measured cognition in 354 healthy adolescents. Groupwise comparisons and linear regressions evaluated sex- and age-related effects, respectively. Males were differentiated from females in cognitive performance and brain metabolite concentrations, including myo-inositol, glutamate + glutamine (Glx), N-acetylaspartate, and creatine. Males performed tasks with faster speed while females demonstrated better accuracy. Decreases in Glx concentration and faster reaction times were associated with increasing age, indicative of maturing brain function during adolescence. These findings highlight adolescence as a period of active brain development.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Code
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Data
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Data and Code Availability
Compiled data used to perform the analyses will be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author and after a data-sharing agreement is executed. No original code was developed to conduct this study other than to perform standard statistical analysis.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Versions
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Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 11 authors, 5 keywords, 1 funder, 71 references.
Cite
This paper
Balaganesh, A., Zuleger, T. M., Liu, Z., Diekfuss, J. A., Dudley, J. A., Yuan, W., Barber Foss, K. D., Cecil, K. M., Bonnette, S., Myer, G. D., & Fleischer, C. C. (2026). Sex and age differences in brain metabolism and cognition in adolescents. Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), 4, IMAG.a.1159. https://
BibTeX
@article{balaganesh2026s
author = {Balaganesh, Anjali and Zuleger, Taylor M. and Liu, Zexuan and Diekfuss, Jed A. and Dudley, Jonathan A. and Yuan, Weihong and Barber Foss, Kim D. and Cecil, Kim M. and Bonnette, Scott and Myer, Gregory D. and Fleischer, Candace C.},
title = {{Sex and age differences in brain metabolism and cognition in adolescents}},
journal = {Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)},
year = {2026},
month = mar,
volume = {4},
pages = {IMAG.a.1159},
publisher = {MIT Press},
issn = {2837-6056},
doi = {10.1162/
url = {https://
pmid = {41816004},
pmcid = {PMC12973075}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Balaganesh, Anjali
AU - Zuleger, Taylor M.
AU - Liu, Zexuan
AU - Diekfuss, Jed A.
AU - Dudley, Jonathan A.
AU - Yuan, Weihong
AU - Barber Foss, Kim D.
AU - Cecil, Kim M.
AU - Bonnette, Scott
AU - Myer, Gregory D.
AU - Fleischer, Candace C.
TI - Sex and age differences in brain metabolism and cognition in adolescents
T2 - Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)
J2 - Imaging Neurosci (Camb)
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 4
SP - IMAG.a.1159
SN - 2837-6056
PB - MIT Press
DO - 10.1162/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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