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Brain activation-based sexual orientation in female-to-male transsexuals

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 28, pages 31–38 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

This study was performed to identify the sexual orientation in association with brain activation pattern in response to visual erotic stimuli in female-to-male (FtM) transsexuals by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Eleven FtM transsexuals who have had sex-reassignment surgery to alter their natal bodies with the gender-identity disorder were participated. Brain activation for sexual orientation was induced by visual stimuli with female and male erotic nude pictures compared with emotionally-neutral pictures. During viewing the erotic female pictures, the brain areas dominantly activated consist of the superior frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, anterior/median cingulate gyri and hypothalamus, whereas during viewing male pictures, the brain areas with predominant activities were the middle frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, angular gyrus, precuneus, superior/middle occipital gyri, cerebellar cortex and vermis. These findings demonstrate that the brain activation patterns induced by viewing male or female erotic pictures show some correlation to the sexual orientation opposite to the genetic sex in FtM transsexuals. This study would be helpful to understand the neural mechanism associated with visual sexual arousal in patients with gender disorder.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (2015R1A2A2A01007827) and the Ministry of Education (2013R1A1A2013878).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Research Institute of Medical Imaging, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

    T-H Kim, G-W Kim & G-W Jeong

  2. Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Dong-A University Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea

    S-K Kim

  3. Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

    G-W Jeong

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Correspondence to G-W Jeong.

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Kim, TH., Kim, GW., Kim, SK. et al. Brain activation-based sexual orientation in female-to-male transsexuals. Int J Impot Res 28, 31–38 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijir.2015.29

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