Structural, functional and metabolic brain differences between groups with opposite sexual attitudes. A systematic review of the neuroimaging literature

MSc in Neurosciences project - Alberto Frigerio

Although the results from this project suggest that the majority of neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and neurometabolic features in transgenders resemble those of their natal sex rather than those of their experienced gender and in homosexuals these resemble those of their same sex heterosexual population rather than their opposite sex heterosexual population; it was not possible to identify specific brain features which consistently differ between cis- and transgender nor between hetero- and homosexual groups. The small number of studies, the small sample size of each study, and the heterogeneity of the investigations made impossible to meta-analyse all the data extracted.