Brain processing of visual sexual stimuli in treated and untreated hypogonadal patients

Redouté, Jérôme; Stoléru, Serge; Pugeat, Michel; Costes, Nicolas; Lávenne, F.; Bars, Didier Le; Déchaud, H.; Cinotti, L.; Pujol, Jean‐François

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2004.12.003

Cited by 115 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Moreover, the caudate has been implicated in the regulation of sexual urge [Karama et al, 2002; Redouté et al, 2000; Stoléru et al, 1999], which is supported by the observation of a reduced caudatal response to VSS in persons with impaired sex drive [Redouté et al, 2005; Stoléru et al, 2003]. On a more general level, these subcortical telencephalic structures like the basal ganglia and claustrum also seem to represent important nodes of the functional anatomy of urges [Jackson et al, 2011] and might thus contribute to development of such urges, i.e., desires, in the context of sexually relevant sensory stimuli.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The functional neuroanatomy of male psychosexual and physiosexual arousal: A quantitative meta‐analysis

Poeppl

Langguth

Laird

et al. 2013

Human Brain Mapping

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Reproductive behavior is mandatory for conservation of species and mediated by a state of sexual arousal (SA), involving both complex mental processes and bodily reactions. An early neurobehavioral model of SA proposes cognitive, emotional, motivational, and autonomic components. In a comprehensive quantitative meta-analysis on previous neuroimaging findings, we provide here evidence for distinct brain networks underlying psychosexual and physiosexual arousal. Psychosexual (i.e., mental sexual) arousal recruits brain areas crucial for cognitive evaluation, top-down modulation of attention and exteroceptive sensory processing, relevance detection and affective evaluation, as well as regions implicated in the representation of urges and in triggering autonomic processes. In contrast, physiosexual (i.e., physiological sexual) arousal is mediated by regions responsible for regulation and monitoring of initiated autonomic processes and emotions and for somatosensory processing. These circuits are interconnected by subcortical structures (putamen and claustrum) that provide exchange of sensorimotor information and crossmodal processing between and within the networks. Brain deactivations may imply attenuation of introspective processes and social cognition, but be necessary to release intrinsic inhibition of SA.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The functional neuroanatomy of male psychosexual and physiosexual arousal: A quantitative meta‐analysis

Poeppl

Langguth

Laird

et al. 2013

Human Brain Mapping

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“…In both men, activation of the inferior frontal lobe, cingulate gyrus, insula and corpus callosum was greater with testosterone replacement. Redoute et al (2005) compared positron emission tomography scan evidence of brain activity during response to sexual stimuli in nine hypogonadal men with and without testosterone replacement, and eight eugonadal men. They found greater activation in the controls and the treated hypogonadal men than the untreated, in the right orbitofrontal cortex, insula and claustrum.…”

Section: Where Do Androgens Act In the Brain?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The endocrinology of sexual arousal

Bancroft¹

2005

Journal of Endocrinology

341

197

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The relevance of testosterone, oestradiol and certain peptides (oxytocin (OT), -endorphin and prolactin (PRL)) to sexual arousal in humans is reviewed. In addition to behavioural studies, evidence of distribution of gonadal steroid receptors in the brain and the limited evidence from brain imaging are also considered. Testosterone plays a key role in the adult male, with clear, consistent evidence from studies of hypogonadal and eugonadal men. The roles of testosterone in the development of sexual arousability, and in the aging male, are less clear. The relevance of aromatization and of non-sexual effects of testosterone which might indirectly influence sexual arousal are not well understood. Testosterone in the female presents a more complex, less consistent picture. One possible explanation is a much greater variability across women in responsiveness to testosterone. A 'desensitization hypothesis' to account for the striking gender differences is offered. There is limited evidence of a direct effect of oestradiol on sexual arousability in women. The extent to which testosterone in women acts by conversion to oestradiol or by increase of free oestradiol is not yet clear. The role of peptides in sexual arousal remains uncertain, partly because of the multiple roles and sites of action of most peptides. OT and -endorphin appear to have both excitatory and inhibitory effects. PRL has been proposed as an inhibitory factor via direct inhibition of dopaminergic activity, but the evidence for this is inconclusive. Whereas the traditional concept of 'hormone' continues to apply to the role of testosterone and oestradiol in sexual arousal, peptides present a more complex role.

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“…For example, in rodents, androgen deprivation by gonadectomy impairs performance on hippocampal-dependent tasks such as verbal memory and executive function, whereas testosterone replacement normalizes performance, suggesting a testosterone-specific effect on hippocampal-related cognition (Edinger and Frye, 2004; Kritzer et al, 2001). In adult men, there is some evidence that these effects of testosterone may be related to increased brain activity in distinct areas such as the prefrontal cortex, whereas effects in women tend to be non-specific, associated with increased overall brain activity, and attributable to the vascular effects of testosterone rather than any specific effect of this hormone on brain structure and function (Fernandez et al, 2003; Redoute et al, 2005). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex-specific associations of testosterone with prefrontal-hippocampal development and executive function

Nguyen

Lew

Albaugh

et al. 2017

Psychoneuroendocrinology

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Testosterone is thought to play a crucial role in mediating sexual differentiation of brain structures. Examinations of the cognitive effects of testosterone have also shown beneficial and potentially sex-specific effects on executive function and mnemonic processes. Yet these findings remain limited by an incomplete understanding of the critical timing and brain regions most affected by testosterone, the lack of documented links between testosterone-related structural brain changes and cognition, and the difficulty in distinguishing the effects of testosterone from those of related sex steroids such as of estradiol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Here we examined associations between testosterone, cortico-hippocampal structural covariance, executive function (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function) and verbal memory (California Verbal Learning Test-Children’s Version), in a longitudinal sample of typically developing children and adolescents 6–22 yo, controlling for the effects of estradiol, DHEA, pubertal stage, collection time, age, handedness, and total brain volume. We found prefrontal-hippocampal covariance to vary as a function of testosterone levels, but only in boys. Boys also showed a specific association between positive prefrontal-hippocampal covariance (as seen at higher testosterone levels) and lower performance on specific components of executive function (monitoring the action process and flexibly shifting between actions). We also found the association between testosterone and a specific aspect of executive function (monitoring) to be significantly mediated by prefrontal-hippocampal structural covariance. There were no significant associations between testosterone-related cortico-hippocampal covariance and verbal memory. Taken together, these findings highlight the developmental importance of testosterone in supporting sexual differentiation of the brain and sex-specific executive function.

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Brain processing of visual sexual stimuli in treated and untreated hypogonadal patients

Cited by 115 publications

References 63 publications

The functional neuroanatomy of male psychosexual and physiosexual arousal: A quantitative meta‐analysis

The functional neuroanatomy of male psychosexual and physiosexual arousal: A quantitative meta‐analysis

The endocrinology of sexual arousal

Sex-specific associations of testosterone with prefrontal-hippocampal development and executive function

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