Assessment of cerebrocortical regions associated with sexual arousal in premenopausal and menopausal women by using BOLD-based functional MRI.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to compare the cerebral regions associated with sexual arousal between premenopausal and menopausal women by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (f MRI).


METHODS
Ten premenopausal and 10 menopausal women underwent fMRI on a 1.5T MR scanner using the blood oxygen level dependent technique. To identify the activated brain regions associated with sexual response, brain activation was assessed during 1 minute of a nonerotic film, followed by 4 minutes of an erotic film.


RESULTS
The overall activation ratios of the premenopausal women were greater than those of the menopausal women by approximately 8% on average. The limbic, temporal association areas, and parietal lobe showed greater enhancement of signal intensities in premenopausal women. However, signal enhancement in the genu of the corpus callosum and superior frontal gyrus was dominant in menopausal women.


CONCLUSIONS
The activated brain center associated with visually evoked sexual arousal showed qualitative and quantitative differences between premenopausal and menopausal women.
Jeong
Gwang-Woo
GW
Department of Radiology, Medical School, Chonnam National University, 5 Hakdong, Dongku, Gwangju 501-757, Korea.
Park
Kwangsung
K
Youn
Gahyun
G
Kang
Heoung-Keun
HK
Kim
Hyung Joong
HJ
Seo
Jeong-Jin
JJ
Ryu
Soo-Bang
SB
D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008593:Menopause / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017697:Premenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D020018:Sexual Dysfunctions, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology
D010100:Oxygen