title: Menopause-related brain activation patterns during visual sexual arousal in menopausal women: An fMRI pilot study using time-course analysis.
abstract: The aging process and menopausal transition are important factors in sexual dysfunction of menopausal women. No neuroimaging study has assessed the age- and menopause-related changes on brain activation areas associated with sexual arousal in menopausal women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the time course of regional brain activity associated with sexual arousal evoked by visual stimulation in premenopausal and menopausal women, and further to assess the effect of menopause on the brain areas associated with sexual arousal in menopausal women using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Thirty volunteers consisting of 15 premenopausal and 15 menopausal women underwent the fMRI. For the activation condition, volunteers viewed sexually arousing visual stimulation. The brain areas with significantly higher activation in premenopausal women compared with menopausal women included the thalamus, amygdala, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) using analysis of covariance adjusting for age (p<0.005). Blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal changes in the amygdala while viewing erotic video were positively correlated with estrogen levels in the two groups. Our findings suggest that reduced brain activity of the thalamus, amygdala, and ACC in menopausal women may be associated with menopause-related decrease in sexual arousal. These findings might help elucidate the neural mechanisms associated with sexual dysfunction in menopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Medical Imaging, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Gwang-Won
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Medical Imaging, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea; Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: gwjeong@jnu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Gwang-Woo
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D004882:Erotica; D004967:Estrogens / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008593:Menopause / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D010100:Oxygen
keywords: age; functional MRI; menopause; sexual arousal; time course