Brain Morphological Changes With Functional Deficit Associated With Sexual Arousal in Postmenopausal Women

We have not known how menopause synchronously influences brain morphology and function associated with visually stimulated sexual arousal in postmenopausal women.

This study used a combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry to evaluate menopause-related brain morphological and functional changes in postmenopausal women.

Nineteen premenopausal women and 19 postmenopausal women underwent functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging. Brain function activity was measured while the subjects viewed an erotic video clip.

A 2-sample t-test was used for cross-analysis of the 2 groups for comparison of gray matter volumes (corrected P < .05) and brain activation (uncorrected P < .01).

Our study revealed a relationship between sexual function and morphological changes in postmenopausal women. Compared with premenopausal women, the postmenopausal group showed significantly lower brain activations in the major parts of the limbic system and basal ganglia, including the parahippocampal gyrus, head of caudate nucleus, insula, putamen, hippocampus, hypothalamus, amygdala, and globus pallidus, which are involved in sexual behavior and emotional responses. In morphometric analyses, postmenopausal women showed significantly decreased gray matter volumes of the insula, putamen, parahippocampal gyrus, amygdala, and anterior cingulate gyrus, most of which were associated with decreased functional activity during visual sexual arousal in postmenopausal women. In addition, the premenopausal group alone showed a positive correlation between the activity of the insula and the level of estradiol (Pearson correlation r = 0.588; P = .008).

This study demonstrates an association between menopause-related brain function and morphological changes in postmenopausal women. This finding provides insight into the neural mechanisms associated with the sexual functional deficit in postmenopausal women. Baek H-S, Kim G-W, Sundaram T, et al. Brain Morphological Changes with Functional Deficit Associated with Sexual Arousal in Postmenopausal Women. Sex Med 2019;7:480-488.