Harald Kugel1,
Sonja Schoening2,3, Almut Engelien2,3, Anette Kersting2,
Cornelia Roestel2, Pienie Zwitserlood4, Wolfgang
Lehmann5, Walter Heindel1, Volker Arolt2,
Carsten Konrad6,7
1Dept. of Clinical Radiology,
University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany; 2Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Muenster,
Muenster, NRW, Germany; 3Research Group 4, Interdisciplinary
Center for Clinical Research (IZKF), University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW,
Germany; 4Dept. of
Psychology, University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany; 5Dept.
of Psychology, University of
Magdeburg, Magdeburg, ST, Germany; 6Research Group 4,
Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF) , University of
Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany; 7Dept. of Psychiatry, University
of Marburg, Marburg, HE, Germany
In
order to investigate differences in neurobiological processes in patients
with gender identity disorder, 11 male-to-female transsexual patients before,
11 patients during cross-sex hormone therapy, and 11 control males underwent
fMRI while performing a sexually dimorph mental rotation paradigm. The
transsexual subjects showed less activation in the left parietal cortex (BA
40). Activation patterns different from controls, i.e. distinct from their
biological sex, did not change during hormonal treatment.