Study Shows Transexuals Display Brain Differences
Study Shows Transexuals Display Brain Differences
Particular characteristics have previously been noted in one region of gray matter in the brain but given the area's size and location it has been impossible to scan in a living person and therefore could only be examined after death.
Headed by researcher Antonio Guillamon, a team at the National University of Distance Education in Madrid, Spain, believe they may now have found a physical indicator in the brain that can be shown when a living person is scanned.
In a study due to be published next month, the team ran MRI scans on the brains of 18 female-to-male transsexual people who'd had no treatment and compared them with those of 24 males and 19 females.
They found significant differences between male and female brains in four regions of white matter – and the female-to-male transsexual people had white matter in these regions that resembled a male brain. "It's the first time it has been shown that the brains of female-to-male transsexual people are masculinised," Guillamon says.
In a separate study, the team used the same technique to compare white matter in 18 male-to-female transsexual people with that in 19 males and 19 females. Surprisingly, in each transsexual person's brain the structure of the white matter in the four regions was halfway between that of the males and females. "Their brains are not completely masculinised and not completely feminised, but they still feel female," says Guillamon.
Whether the regions identified in this study directly tie to how the brain deals with gender identity is not yet known, however it is thought that at least one of the four regions, the superior longitudinal fasciculus, could play a part in physical self-perception.
Should this indicator be proven in further studies, the potential is there for enabling physicians to better identify transexuality. This would be particularly helpful in cases of children displaying gender dysphoria, giving doctors demonstrable cause to recommend delaying puberty through the use of medications with a mind toward later considering, among other options, gender reassignment should the child's gender identity remain different to their birth gender in the long term.There is also the consideration that identification of a definable transexual characteristic in the brain may serve to better indicate the potential for a successful gender reassignment surgery.
However, the article notes that these physical indicators will not help in all cases:
"Research has shown that white matter matures during the first 20 to 30 years of life," he says. "People may experience early or late onset of transsexuality and we don't know what causes this difference."
This aside, one can not overlook the fact that visible indicators would also be important in terms of combating the social stigma associated with transexuality and gender identity variance, supporting the push for trans-inclusive employment non-discrimination legislation and housing protections, where previously trans identity has been labeled by some as either a lifestyle choice or a mental illness.
source: http://www.care2.com/causes/civil-rights/blog/study-shows-transexuals-may-display-brain-differences/
