According to a new study by researchers from the Peking University in Beijing, National Institute of Biological Sciences, and Washington University in St. Louis, the brain chemical serotonin may play a role in sexual preference such that male mice lacking serotonin began wooing other males with "mating calls" and made attempts to mate with them.
Quoting the study published in the international scientific journal Nature on March 23, the BBC last week reported that researchers say it is the first time that a neurotransmitter has been shown to play a role in sexual preference in mammals.
A series of experiments demonstrated that the mice, whose brains were not receptive to serotonin, had lost the preference for females shown by unmodified males. They showed no overall preference for either males or females when presented with a choice of partners.
When just a male was introduced into the cage, the "modified" males were far more likely to mount the male and emit a "mating call" normally given off when encountering females than unmodified males were.
Similar results were achieved when a different set of mice were bred. These lacked the tryptonphan hydroxylase 2 gene, which is needed to produce serotonin.
However, researchers managed to "restore" the mice's preference for females by injecting serotonin into the brain.
The report concludes: "Serotonergic signalling is crucial for male sexual preference in mice. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that a neurotransmitter in the brain has been demonstrated to be important in mammalian sexual preference."
Experts however have warned against drawing conclusions about human sexuality based on this research.
Professor Keith Kendrick, a neuroscientist at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, said: "In terms of having potential relevance to understanding human sexual preference/orientation, we are of course far less influenced by odour cues in this context than mice are.
"There is some very limited evidence for altered responses to selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the brains of homosexuals, but we have been using psychoactive drugs which either increase or decrease serotonin function for quite some time now, and while effects on sexual arousal, impulsivity and aggression have often been reported, no effects on sexual preference/orientation have.
"At this time therefore any potential links between serotonin and human sexual preferences must be considered somewhat tenuous."
Reader's Comments
Leave my serotonin alone !
Why invest so much $$ and brain-power in this direction?
Are governments and secret organizations looking for ways to erradicate and modify us?
Premise 1 : Bananas are high in serotonin.
Premise 2 : Mice low in serotonin are more likely to like bananas.
Conclusion : Low serotonin makes us want bananas - makes us Gay :)
Mankind: Time for reset button. ;P
our body and all biological processes need diferent kinds of biochemicals to stay alive, so little can be said about specific behavioral influence for 1 chemical compound, neither can behaviour be fixed by one kind of chemical.
without serotinine one cannot move, with too much one falls asleep.
However, don't be panic, you guys may read this nice article too:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=serotonin-and-sexual-preference-is-2011-03-28
I think, it has no (great) implication, if we compare to designer baby.
Changing Human's sexual behaviour upon few shots of hormone and etc? i doubt it will work.
regards
Otherwise gay men on antidepressants would all turn straight.
Hey, is there any truth that a group of Gay scientists are working to uncover what turns some people Heterosexual?
I heard that, if they can just identify the chemical (which they've codenamed 'Straightium'), they can target the areas of the brain responsible for creating it, and correct the unnatural urges found in so, so many people out there. (Carriers of Straightium seem oddly resistant to Lady GaGa and Two-Cocktails-For-The-Price-Of-One happy hours at gay bars.)
'Course, Earth will get a LOT quieter about 80 years later, but Hey! Let the Race begin! For Science!
WHY is there a ruddy big ad for 'Dating For Seniors' (with a lovely, old, Heterosexual couple) bunged in by Google at the top of this article?!
I'm A) NOT that old, thank you very much - even though in Gay Years, 39 is juuuuuust about the same as, oooh, 89; and B) also, I'm not Straight! (And C) I'm also not looking to date some old age pensioner, of either sex.)
Scientists! Stop looking for What Might Not Really Make Some Mice More Or Less Interested In Sex With Anyone, and start looking for the logic behind Strangely Unsuitable Ads On Gay Websites, instead!
So, Relax =)
-not sure what this is doing on fridae.
What a shame the funding for these suspicious experiments wasnt directed towards worthwhile projects such as research for cancer treatments, relieving hunger, or a multitude of worthwhile causes we could think of.
Bt in an age of prevalent plastic surgery where you can even change the eyes/nose/mouth/skin etc into that of some obscure, if not rather sinister, 'Master Race' ideal, what surprise is it, then, for some to exploit this very same 'technology' to turn 'undesirable' people into 'desirable' society ideals? Some food for thought here. And no, it will not only be gay people who will be suffering fr such 'research'.
LOL!
33: [This only proves that science in the wrong hands can be just as dangerous as religion.]
if the sun rises from the west tomorrow, scientists are supposed to check the observation/experiment, if it is right, the theory that the sun rises from the east is overthrown. if god is proven to be just a chemical need of humans to believe, i am sure what you meant by "religion" will not do just that.
34: [What a hideoaus and cruel experiment]
i am sure you realize this has nothing to do with the scientist. if you have an issue with animal testing, then you might want to give up the preference for safety in the pills you might take when you are ill.
31: [What a shame the funding for these suspicious experiments wasnt directed towards worthwhile projects such as reaserch for cancer treatments...]
they are just doing research on serotonin and reporting the results. the results happens to involve sexual preference for mice.
19: [Scientists! Stop looking for What Might Not Really Make Some Mice More Or Less Interested In Sex With Anyone...]
oh my goodness.
if you think i am stupid. great! i completely agree with you. but still, cant help commenting.
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