Neural activation-based sexual orientation and its correlation with free testosterone level in postoperative female-to-male transsexuals: preliminary study with 3.0-T fMRI.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the brain activation pattern associated with sexual orientation and its correlation with the level of the free testosterone (free T) in postoperative female-to-male (FtM) transsexuals using a 3.0-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Eleven postoperative FtM transsexuals with sex reassignment surgery underwent fMRI on a 3.0-T MR scanner. Brain activity was measured while viewing erotic male and female nude pictures.

RESULTS

The average level of free T in the FtM transsexuals was in the normal range of heterosexual men. The brain areas with predominant activities during viewing female nude pictures in contrast to male pictures included the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, putamen, amygdala, hypothalamus, and insula (p < 0.005). The free T levels were positively correlated with the BOLD signal changes in the parahippocampal gyrus (Spearman's rho = 0.91, p < 0.001), hippocampus (rho = 0.90, p < 0.001), insula (rho = 0.68, p < 0.05), putamen (rho = 0.66, p < 0.05), and amygdala (rho = 0.64, p < 0.05). Compared to FtM transsexuals with deficient level of free T, the FtM transsexuals with normal range of free T showed significantly higher activities in the parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, insula, putamen, and amygdala during viewing female nude pictures (p < 0.005).

CONCLUSION

This study revealed the specific brain activation pattern associated with sexual orientation and its correlation with free T in the postoperative FtM transsexuals. These findings are applicable in understanding the neural mechanism on sexual arousal in FtM transsexuals and their sexual orientation in connection with the free T levels.