Sex-related differences in the muscarinic acetylcholinergic receptor in the healthy human brain —A positron emission tomography study—

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Abstract
We evaluated the sex-related differences in the decline of the cerebral muscarinic acetylcholinergic receptor (mACh-R) due to aging by using11C-N-methyl-4-piperidyl benzilate (11C-NMPB) and positron emission tomography (PET). The subjects consisted of 37 (20 males and 17 females) healthy volunteers. The11C-NMPB uptake was evaluated by the ratio method (regional11C-NMPB uptake/Cerebellar11C-NMPB uptake was evaluated by the ratio method (regional11C-NMPB rNMPB ratio in normal aging was evaluated by a multiple regression analysis. The rNMPB ratio was higher in females than in males throughout the entire cerebral region (p<0.01-p<0.0001) and the rNMPB ratio might thus possibly decline with age more rapidly in females. Our study therefore revealed the existence of sex-related differences in the cerebral mACh-R.