High-Dose Testosterone Treatment Increases Serotonin Transporter Binding in Transgender People.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Women are two times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than men. Sex hormones modulating serotonergic transmission are proposed to partly underlie these epidemiologic findings. Here, we used the cross-sex steroid hormone treatment of transsexuals seeking sex reassignment as a model to investigate acute and chronic effects of testosterone and estradiol on serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) binding in female-to-male and male-to-female transsexuals.

Methods

Thirty-three transsexuals underwent [(11)C]DASB positron emission tomography before start of treatment, a subset of which underwent a second scan 4 weeks and a third scan 4 months after treatment start. SERT nondisplaceable binding potential was quantified in 12 regions of interest. Treatment effects w

SUBMITTER: Kranz GS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4585531 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature