Assessment of Cerebrocortical Regions Associated with Sexual Arousal in Premenopausal and Menopausal Women by Using BOLD-Based Functional MRI

doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2005.00134.x

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Wiley InterScience

Journal of Sexual Medicine

Volume 2 Issue 5, Pages 645 - 651

Published Online: 16 Aug 2005

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH—FEMALE SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION

Assessment of Cerebrocortical Regions Associated with Sexual Arousal in Premenopausal and Menopausal Women by Using BOLD-Based Functional MRI

Gwang-Woo Jeong, PhD*, Kwangsung Park, MD, PhD ^† , Gahyun Youn, PhD ^‡ , Heoung-Keun Kang, MD*, Hyung Joong Kim, PhD*, Jeong-Jin Seo, MD* and Soo-Bang Ryu, MD ^†

*Department of Radiology, Medical School , ^† Department of Urology, Medical School , ^‡ Department of Psychology, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea

Correspondence to Kwangsung Park, MD, PhD, Chonnam National University, Medical School—Department of Urology, 5, Hakdong, Dongku, Gwangju 501-757, Korea. Tel: (82) 62-220-6703; Fax: (82) 62-227-1643; E-mail: kpark@chonnam.ac.kr

KEYWORDS

Sexual Arousal • Menopause • fMRI

ABSTRACT

Purpose. 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).

Materials and 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 G-W, Park K, Youn G, Kang H-K, Kim HJ, Seo J-J, and Ryu S-B. Assessment of cerebrocortical regions associated with sexual arousal in premenopausal and menopausal women by using BOLD-based functional MRI. J Sex Med 2005;2:645–651.

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1743-6109.2005.00134.x About DOI