For the first time, the brain structure of male-to-female transsexuals has been investigated in living individuals using MRI brain scans, helping to fuel the debate over the possible neural basis of gender identity.
The scientific article, shortly to appear in the neuroscience journal NeuroImage, used MRI brain scans and a technique called voxel based morphometry to compare grey matter in a group of male-to-female transexuals to groups of males and females who have never had gender-identity concerns.
This is not the first time that brain structure has been compared in this way, but earlier studies had been based on post-mortem comparisons. These three studies had found that certain areas in male-to-female transsexuals more commonly resembled the equivalent area in females than males.
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