Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Psychology, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
J Neurosci. 2022 Feb 9;42(6):1131-1140. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1081-21.2021. Epub 2021 Dec 20.
The precise location of the human female genital representation field in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) is controversial and its capacity for use-associated structural variation as a function of sexual behavior remains unknown. We used a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-compatible sensory-tactile stimulation paradigm to functionally map the location of the female genital representation field in 20 adult women. Neural response to tactile stimulation of the clitoral region (vs right hand) identified individually-diverse focal bilateral activations in dorsolateral areas of S1 (BA1-BA3) in alignment with anatomic location. We next used cortical surface analyses to assess structural thickness across the 10 individually most activated vertices per hemisphere for each woman. We show that frequency of sexual intercourse within 12 months is correlated with structural thickness of the individually-mapped left genital field. Our results provide a precise functional localization of the female genital field and provide support for use-associated structural variation of the human genital cortex. We provide a precise location of the human female genital field in the somatosensory cortex and, for the first time, provide evidence in support of structural variation of the human genital field in association with frequency of genital contact. Our study represents a significant methodological advance by individually mapping genital fields for structural analyses. On a secondary level, our results suggest that any study investigating changes in the human genital field must map the field individually to achieve sufficient precision. Our results pave the way for future research into the plasticity of the human genital cortex as a function of normal or adverse experience as well as changes in pathologic conditions, i.e., sexual dysfunction, sexual deviation, or sexual risk-taking behavior.
人类女性生殖器代表区域在初级体感皮层（S1）中的精确位置存在争议，其作为性行为功能的使用相关结构变化的能力仍然未知。我们使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）兼容的感觉-触觉刺激范式，对 20 名成年女性的女性生殖器代表区域进行功能定位。对阴蒂区域（与右手相比）的触觉刺激的神经反应，确定了 S1 背外侧区域（BA1-BA3）中个体差异的双侧焦点激活，与解剖位置一致。接下来，我们使用皮质表面分析来评估每个女性每侧半球的 10 个个体激活顶点的结构厚度。我们表明，在 12 个月内进行性行为的频率与个体映射的左侧生殖器区域的结构厚度相关。我们的研究结果提供了女性生殖器区域的精确功能定位，并为人类生殖器皮质的使用相关结构变化提供了支持。我们提供了人类女性生殖器区域在体感皮层中的精确位置，并首次提供了与生殖器接触频率相关的人类生殖器区域结构变化的证据。我们的研究通过对生殖器区域进行个体映射进行结构分析，代表了一种重要的方法学进展。在次要水平上，我们的研究结果表明，任何研究调查人类生殖器区域的变化，都必须对该区域进行个体映射，以达到足够的精度。我们的研究结果为未来研究人类生殖器皮质的可塑性铺平了道路，作为正常或不良经验以及病理状况变化的功能，即性功能障碍、性偏差或性冒险行为。
