Brain network interactions in transgender individuals with gender incongruence
Functional brain organization in transgender persons remains unclear. Our aims were to investigate global and regional connectivity differences within functional networks in transwomen and transmen with early-in-life onset gender incongruence; and to test the consistency of two available hypotheses...
| Authors: | ; ; ; ; ; |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Status: | Published version |
| Publication date: | 2020 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repository: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/183973 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/183973 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Imatges per ressonància magnètica Transgèneres Magnetic resonance imaging Transgender people |
| _version_ | 1878735697419960320 |
|---|---|
| author | Uribe, Carme |
| author2 | Junqué i Plaja, Carme, 1955- Gómez Gil, Esther Abós, Alexandra Mueller, Sven C. Guillamon, Antonio |
| author2_role | author author author author author |
| author_browse | Abós, Alexandra Guillamon, Antonio Gómez Gil, Esther Junqué i Plaja, Carme, 1955- Mueller, Sven C. Uribe, Carme |
| author_facet | Uribe, Carme Junqué i Plaja, Carme, 1955- Gómez Gil, Esther Abós, Alexandra Mueller, Sven C. Guillamon, Antonio |
| author_role | author |
| collection | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| description | Functional brain organization in transgender persons remains unclear. Our aims were to investigate global and regional connectivity differences within functional networks in transwomen and transmen with early-in-life onset gender incongruence; and to test the consistency of two available hypotheses that attempted to explain gender variants: (i) a neurodevelopmental cortical hypothesis that suggests the existence of different brain phenotypes based on structural MRI data and genes polymorphisms of sex hormone receptors; (ii) a functional-based hypothesis in relation to regions involved in the own body perception. T2*-weighted images in a 3-T MRI were obtained from 29 transmen and 17 transwomen as well as 22 cisgender women and 19 cisgender men. Restingstate independent component analysis, seed-to-seed functional network and graph theory analyses were performed. Transmen, transwomen, and cisgender women had decreased connectivity compared with cisgender men in superior parietal regions, as part of the salience (SN) and the executive control (ECN) networks. Transmen also had weaker connectivity compared with cisgender men between intra-SN regions and weaker inter-network connectivity between regions of the SN, the default mode network (DMN), the ECN and the sensorimotor network. Transwomen had lower small-worldness, modularity and clustering coefficient than cisgender men. There were no differences among transmen, transwomen, and ciswomen. Together these results underline the importance of the SN interacting with DMN, ECN, and sensorimotor networks in transmen, involving regions of the entire brain with a frontal predominance. Reduced global connectivity graph-theoretical measures were a characteristic of transwomen. It is proposed that the interaction between networks is a keystone in building a gendered self. Finally, our findings suggest that both proposed hypotheses are complementary in explaining brain differences between gender variants. |
| eu_rights_str_mv | openAccess |
| format | article |
| id | ES_81d4c3d47bb2aedff6148c8d93a09fb1 |
| institution | Universidad de Barcelona |
| instname_str | Universidad de Barcelona |
| network_acronym_str | ES |
| network_name_str | España |
| oai_identifier_str | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/183973 |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | Elsevier B.V. |
| publisherStr | Elsevier B.V. |
| reponame_str | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| spelling | Brain network interactions in transgender individuals with gender incongruence Uribe, Carme Junqué i Plaja, Carme, 1955- Gómez Gil, Esther Abós, Alexandra Mueller, Sven C. Guillamon, Antonio Imatges per ressonància magnètica Transgèneres Magnetic resonance imaging Transgender people Functional brain organization in transgender persons remains unclear. Our aims were to investigate global and regional connectivity differences within functional networks in transwomen and transmen with early-in-life onset gender incongruence; and to test the consistency of two available hypotheses that attempted to explain gender variants: (i) a neurodevelopmental cortical hypothesis that suggests the existence of different brain phenotypes based on structural MRI data and genes polymorphisms of sex hormone receptors; (ii) a functional-based hypothesis in relation to regions involved in the own body perception. T2*-weighted images in a 3-T MRI were obtained from 29 transmen and 17 transwomen as well as 22 cisgender women and 19 cisgender men. Restingstate independent component analysis, seed-to-seed functional network and graph theory analyses were performed. Transmen, transwomen, and cisgender women had decreased connectivity compared with cisgender men in superior parietal regions, as part of the salience (SN) and the executive control (ECN) networks. Transmen also had weaker connectivity compared with cisgender men between intra-SN regions and weaker inter-network connectivity between regions of the SN, the default mode network (DMN), the ECN and the sensorimotor network. Transwomen had lower small-worldness, modularity and clustering coefficient than cisgender men. There were no differences among transmen, transwomen, and ciswomen. Together these results underline the importance of the SN interacting with DMN, ECN, and sensorimotor networks in transmen, involving regions of the entire brain with a frontal predominance. Reduced global connectivity graph-theoretical measures were a characteristic of transwomen. It is proposed that the interaction between networks is a keystone in building a gendered self. Finally, our findings suggest that both proposed hypotheses are complementary in explaining brain differences between gender variants. Elsevier B.V. https://hdl.handle.net/2445/183973 |
| spellingShingle | Brain network interactions in transgender individuals with gender incongruence Uribe, Carme Imatges per ressonància magnètica Transgèneres Magnetic resonance imaging Transgender people |
| status_str | publishedVersion |
| title | Brain network interactions in transgender individuals with gender incongruence |
| title_full | Brain network interactions in transgender individuals with gender incongruence |
| title_fullStr | Brain network interactions in transgender individuals with gender incongruence |
| title_full_unstemmed | Brain network interactions in transgender individuals with gender incongruence |
| title_short | Brain network interactions in transgender individuals with gender incongruence |
| title_sort | Brain network interactions in transgender individuals with gender incongruence |
| topic | Imatges per ressonància magnètica Transgèneres Magnetic resonance imaging Transgender people |
| topic_facet | Imatges per ressonància magnètica Transgèneres Magnetic resonance imaging Transgender people |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/183973 |