Research Institute of Medical Imaging, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
J Sex Med. 2013 Apr;10(4):1001-11. doi: 10.1111/jsm.12057. Epub 2013 Jan 24.
Numerous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies demonstrated the key brain areas associated with visual sexual arousal. However, the changes in brain metabolites involved in sexual stimuli have not been reported.
This study utilized functional MR spectroscopy (fMRS) to evaluate the changes in brain metabolites associated with sexual arousal induced by stimulation with erotic video clips in healthy women.
Twenty-three healthy, right-handed women (38.4 ± 10.0 years) participated in (1) H-fMRS and fMRI studies. T1 and T2 MR images were used for voxel localization of the anterior cingulate gyrus, which is one of the most important key centers associated with sexual arousal.
The changes of brain metabolites were measured using (1) H-fMRS during time-course activation: "before," "during," and "after" visual sexual stimulation. The time-course variation of the brain metabolites was analyzed by the repeated-measures analysis of variance.
The CVmean of all the metabolites had <30% (range, 9-29%). The ICCs of α-glutamine-glutamate (Glx), choline (Cho), β·γ-Glx, N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and lactate (Lac) all exceeded 0.6. However, myo-inositol (mI) and lipid (Lip) were <0.6. The concentration of brain metabolites including α-Glx, β·γ-Glx, Cho, and Lac comparatively increased significantly during visual sexual stimulation.
(1) H-fMRS, for the first time, was applied to assess the brain metabolic changes during visually-evoked sexual arousal. The fMRS outcomes in relation to functional MRI data will be useful to understand the neural mechanism associated with sexual arousal.
大量的功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究表明，视觉性唤起与大脑的关键区域有关。然而，涉及性刺激的大脑代谢物的变化尚未被报道。
本研究采用功能磁共振波谱（fMRS）评估健康女性观看色情视频片段时性唤起相关的脑代谢物变化。
23 名健康的右利手女性（38.4±10.0 岁）参与了（1）H-fMRS 和 fMRI 研究。T1 和 T2 MR 图像用于前扣带皮质的体素定位，该区域是与性唤起最相关的重要关键中心之一。
使用（1）H-fMRS 在时间过程激活期间测量脑代谢物的变化：“之前”、“期间”和“之后”视觉性刺激。采用重复测量方差分析分析脑代谢物的时间过程变化。
所有代谢物的 CVmean 均＜30%（范围，9-29%）。α-谷氨酰胺-谷氨酸（Glx）、胆碱（Cho）、β·γ-Glx、N-乙酰天冬氨酸（NAA）和乳酸（Lac）的 ICC 均＞0.6。然而，肌醇（mI）和脂质（Lip）＜0.6。在视觉性刺激期间，脑代谢物包括α-Glx、β·γ-Glx、Cho 和 Lac 的浓度均显著增加。
（1）H-fMRS 首次用于评估视觉诱发性唤起期间的脑代谢变化。与功能磁共振成像数据相关的 fMRS 结果将有助于理解与性唤起相关的神经机制。
