Sex Differences in Hierarchical Clustering of the Spontaneous Fluctuations in Brain Resting State

In order to analyze sex differences in brain functional networks at resting state, resting functional datasets were analyzed by integrating neighborhood local correlation (NLC) with hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) methods to investigate the sex differences of hierarchical level. The HCA results show some hierarchical differences between subjects in the female group and in the male group. In female clustering hierarchies, regions including posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), left fusiform gyrus (LFG), right fusiform gyrus (RFG), thalamus and caudate nucleus were in a sub-hierarchical level, middle cingulate cortex (MCC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and rectus gyrus (RG) were in another sub-hierarchical level. In male clustering hierarchies, bilateral fusiform gyrus, thalamus and caudate nucleus belonged to a sub-hierarchical level, but RG, ACC, MCC and PCC belonged to another sub-hierarchical level.