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

Although various brain regions have been shown to respond to the presentation of visual sexual stimuli (VSS), whether these regions are specifically mediating sexual arousal or whether they mediate general emotional or motivational arousal is unknown. To clarify this issue, our purpose was to map the regions where the response to VSS was related to plasma testosterone. Specific objectives were (i) to identify regions that respond differentially to VSS in untreated hypogonadal patients compared with healthy controls and (ii) to identify in hypogonadal patients the regions that respond differentially to VSS as a function of therapeutically induced increased testosterone levels.

In nine male hypogonadal patients, in the same patients under treatment, and in eight healthy males, we used Positron Emission Tomography to investigate responses of regional cerebral blood flow to VSS. Statistical Parametric Mapping was used to locate regions that demonstrated a differential response.

Regions responding differentially both in untreated patients compared with controls and in untreated patients compared with themselves under treatment were the right orbitofrontal cortex, insula and claustrum, where the activation was higher in controls than in untreated patients and where activation increased under treatment, and the left inferior frontal gyrus, that demonstrated a deactivation only in controls and in patients under treatment. That these responses appear to depend on testosterone indicates that these regions mediate sexual arousal and not only a process of general emotional or motivational arousal.