Study on brain morphometry and diffusion tensor images of the microstructure of white matter in male to female transexuals before and during the Transgender process

• Grant number: 12/19165-7
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: March 01, 2013 - August 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Psychiatry
• Principal researcher: Carmita Helena Najjar Abdo
• Grantee: Carmita Helena Najjar Abdo
• Home Institution: Instituto de Psiquiatria Doutor Antonio Carlos Pacheco e Silva (IPq). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Geraldo Busatto Filho

Abstract

Individuals identified as transsexuals are included in the section on Identity Sexual Disorders in the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, text revision, groups the Gender Identity Disorders in a single diagnostic entity. They are those who report in their history persistent discomfort with the sex they were born. Genetic predisposition, environmental and psychosocial influences, exposure to hormones and, more likely, the interaction among these factors may contribute to the development of gender identity. With regard to transsexualism, it has been suggested that brain sexual differentiation during embryonic development phases, undergoes a deviation from the rest of the body. This hypothesis implies that the neuroanatomy plays a key role in determining gender identity. Studies show that male transsexuals have some specific features: more gray matter in the right putamen; measures and forms the corpus callosum more similar to the desired gender (female); and white matter microstructure patterns, located in the superior longitudinal fasciculus, in the right anterior cingulum and corticospinal tract, midway between the birth sex and gender desired. This study aim to investigate, using magnetic resonance imaging to assess the association between changes in volume and cerebral white matter in male transsexuals on two occasions: before and after (at least one year) starting hormone therapy. This one would constitute the hypothesis that may be or not changes on volumetric and white matter integrity between groups. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SPIZZIRRI, GIANCARLO; SOUZA DURAN, FABIO LUIS; CHAIM-AVANCINI, TIFFANY MOUKBEL; SERPA, MAURICIO HENRIQUES; CAVALLET, MIKAEL; ABREU PEREIRA, CARLA MARIA; SANTOS, PEDRO PAIM; SQUARZONI, PAULA; DA COSTA, NAOMI ANTUNES; BUSATTO, GERALDO F.; NAJJAR ABDO, CARMITA HELENA. Grey and white matter volumes either in treatment-naive or hormone-treated transgender women: a voxel-based morphometry study. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 8, JAN 15 2018. Web of Science Citations: 4.