Gay Men, Straight Women Have Similar Brains

June 17 -- MONDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) - MRI and PET scan studies are showing remarkable similarities between the brains of gay men and straight women, and between those of lesbians and straight men.

For example, the brains of straight men and of gay women share certain common features: both are slightly asymmetric, with the right hemisphere larger than the left, say the Swedish researchers.

On the other hand, the brains of gay men and straight women are both symmetrical.

Similar trends emerged when scientists tracked connectivity in the amygdala, the region of the brain involved in emotional learning and in activating the fight-or-flight response. They noted strong similarities between gay men and straight women, and lesbians and straight men.

The findings are published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This is a very interesting study demonstrating a possible neurobiological relationship in brain size between gay men and straight women," said Paul Sanberg, distinguished professor of neurosurgery and director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair in Tampa.

"I do think this is pointing to some type of neurobiological underpinning [to sexual orientation]," added Keith A. Young, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in Waco. He was not involved in the study.

"It's hard to know if that's related to genes, or what might happen in the womb -- I think those are the two primary options," said Young, who is also co-director of the Central Texas Veterans' Health Care System Neuropsychiatry Research Program in Temple. "How do those affect early brain development, and how might either genes or exposure to hormones in the womb change the trajectory of the development of emotional processing centers?"

The neurobiology of sexual orientation remains a controversial topic. Some research suggests that the brain activity of homosexual individuals in areas unrelated to sex mirror brain activity in straight individuals of the opposite sex. And certain psychological studies have revealed differences in how men and women use the brain's different hemispheres for verbal tasks, for example.