Male-to-female transsexuals show sex-atypical hypothalamus activation when smelling odorous steroids
Male-to-female transsexuals show sex-atypical hypothalamus activation when smelling odorous steroids
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DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhm216
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发表时间：
2008-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Savic, I.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Berglund, H.;Lindstrom, P.;Savic, I.
变性背后的一个工作假设是，某些下丘脑网络的正常性别分化被改变了。我们通过调查12名非同性恋的男变女变性人（MFTR）在闻4，16-雄甾二烯-3-酮（AND）和雌甾-1，3，5（10），16-四烯-3-醇（EST）时的大脑激活模式来验证这一假设。据报道，这些类固醇以性别差异的方式激活下丘脑网络。与女性对照组一样，MFTR的下丘脑也被AND激活，而EST的嗅觉则激活了杏仁核和梨状皮质。另一方面，男性对照组则用EST激活了下丘脑。然而，当限制感兴趣的体积的下丘脑激活检测MFTR也与EST，探索性联合分析显示，MFTR共享下丘脑集群与女性时，闻到和，与男性时，闻到EST。由于EST效应有限，MFTR仅与雄性对照组有显著差异，且仅对EST-AIR和EST-AND有显著差异。这些数据表明，激活模式远离生物性别，占据一个中间位置，主要是女性样的功能。因为我们的MFTR是非同性恋，结果不太可能是性行为的影响。相反，这些数据暗示，变性可能与特定下丘脑回路中的性别非典型生理反应有关，可能是神经元分化变异的结果。
One working hypothesis behind transsexuality is that the normal sex differentiation of certain hypothalamic networks is altered. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the pattern of cerebral activation in 12 nonhomosexual male-to-female transsexuals (MFTRs) when smelling 4,16-androstadien-3-one (AND) and estra-1,3,5(10),16-tetraen-3-ol (EST). These steroids are reported to activate the hypothalamic networks in a sex-differentiated way. Like in female controls the hypothalamus in MFTRs activated with AND, whereas smelling of EST engaged the amygdala and piriform cortex. Male controls, on the other hand, activated the hypothalamus with EST. However, when restricting the volume of interest to the hypothalamus activation was detected in MFTR also with EST, and explorative conjunctional analysis revealed that MFTR shared a hypothalamic cluster with women when smelling AND, and with men when smelling EST. Because the EST effect was limited, MFTR differed significantly only from male controls, and only for EST-AIR and EST-AND. These data suggest a pattern of activation away from the biological sex, occupying an intermediate position with predominantly female-like features. Because our MFTRs were nonhomosexual, the results are unlikely to be an effect of sexual practice. Instead, the data implicate that transsexuality may be associated with sex-atypical physiological responses in specific hypothalamic circuits, possibly as a consequence of a variant neuronal differentiation.