Serotonin controls sexual preference in mice, Chinese researchers say.
According to a study performed by researchers from the Peking University in Beijing, National Institute of Biological Sciences, and Washington University in St. Louis, the absence of brain chemical serotonin led to the mice's sexual preference to be gender neural. That is, if male mice did not have serotonin present in their brain, they did not care whether or not their mates were female.
The researchers bred male mice so that they did not have serotonin present in their brains. When given options for mates, the mice did not display preference for either sex.
When injected with serotonin, the male mice would show a sexual preference for the females.
Serotonergic signaling 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, the study report read.
Professor Keith Kendrick of the Babraham Institute in Cambridge commented to the BBC, "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.
The neuroscientist added, "At this time therefore any potential links between serotonin and human sexual preferences must be considered somewhat tenuous."
The study was published in the journal Nature.
