ArticleBrain structure & function2018
Effects of testosterone treatment on hypothalamic neuroplasticity in female-to-male transgender individuals.
Article in Brain structure & function, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Structural, Functional, and Metabolic Brain Differences as a Function of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation: A Systematic Review of the Human Neuroimaging Literature.Archives of sexual behavior · 2021Pooled it
- Hypothalamic-superior frontal gyrus functional connectivity alterations and luteinizing hormone correlations in girls with central precocious puberty.Annals of pediatric endocrinology & metabolism · 2026Article
- Exploring the role of sex hormones and gender diversity in multiple sclerosis.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Article
- Hippocampal subfield volume differences between female-to-male transgender individuals with cross-sex hormone therapy and cisgender women.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Beyond the Gender Binarism: Neural Correlates of Trans Men in a Functional Connectivity-Resting-State fMRI Pilot Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Gender Dysphoria and Sexual Euphoria: A Bayesian Perspective on the Influence of Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy on Sexual Arousal.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- Pain mechanisms in the transgender individual: a review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Transwoman Elite Athletes: Their Extra Percentage Relative to Female Physiology.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Brain Sex in Transgender Women Is Shifted towards Gender Identity.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Effects of androgen deprivation on white matter integrity and processing speed in prostate cancer patients.American journal of cancer research · 2022Article
- Sex Matters: A Multivariate Pattern Analysis of Sex- and Gender-Related Neuroanatomical Differences in Cis- and Transgender Individuals Using Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2020Article
- What has sex got to do with it? The role of hormones in the transgender brain.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Review
- Gender-Affirming Hormone Use in Transgender Individuals: Impact on Behavioral Health and Cognition.Current psychiatry reports · 2018Review
- Changes to hypothalamic volume and associated subunits during gender-affirming hormone therapy.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPNArticle
- Recommendations to Address the Unique Clinical and Psychological Needs of Transgender Persons Living With Multiple Sclerosis.International journal of MS careArticle
- The role of androgens in migraine pathophysiology.Neurobiology of pain (Cambridge, Mass.)Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is used to measure gray matter tissue density and white matter fiber organization/directionality. Recent studies show that DWI also allows for assessing neuroplastic adaptations in the human hypothalamus. To this end, we investigated a potential influence of testosterone replacement therapy on hypothalamic microstructure in female-to-male (FtM) transgender individuals. 25 FtMs were measured at baseline, 4 weeks, and 4 months past treatment start and compared to 25 female and male controls. Our results show androgenization-related reductions in mean diffusivity in the lateral hypothalamus. Significant reductions were observed unilaterally after 1 month and bilaterally after 4 months of testosterone treatment. Moreover, treatment induced increases in free androgen index and bioavailable testosterone were significantly associated with the magnitude of reductions in mean diffusivity. These findings imply microstructural plasticity and potentially related changes in neural activity by testosterone in the adult human hypothalamus and suggest that testosterone replacement therapy in FtMs changes hypothalamic microstructure towards male proportions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.