Losing your virginity really could be life-changing. Having sex apparently alters the structure of the brain – in men, at least.
A Japanese study of tiny spines that occur between brain cells revealed virgin male rats to have far more of them than more sexually experienced counterparts.
This implies the spines drive sex for the first time and then they shrink or disappear. It may one day be possible to create a pill for humans that increases the growth of spines. This could help boost libido, New Scientist reports.
Stuart Tobet, a neuroscientist in the US, said the studies provide a ‘glimpse into how changes in the structure of spines contribute to the ability to display sexual behaviours in rats and perhaps by extrapolation, to other mammals, including humans.’
Once their mission is achieved, the spines are no longer needed and so shrink or disappear.
What is more, the microscopic spines may also affect men’s early sexual encounters, this week’s New Scientist reports.
It was already known that several brain regions linked to sexual behaviour differ in size between the sexes in humans and other animals.
To find out whether an area known to be bigger in males was altered by having sex, the Saitama University researchers compared the brains of male rats who had never had sex before with their more experienced cage-mates.
They found that the number of brain spines was significantly lower in the non-virgins.
Researcher Shinji Tsukahara says the decrease in spines may have been caused by a number of factors, including hormonal changes triggered by the presence of a female.
He said that the spines may serve as a ‘one-way road to learn how to mate’ and once used they are no longer needed.
失去处子之身确实会改变你的人生。初尝禁果会显著地改变人的大脑结构——至少对男人是如此。
日本的一项对于脑细胞间微小脊髓组织的研究揭示，“处男”老鼠相比那些有过性经验的老鼠有更多这种脊髓组织。
这意味着这种脊髓组织促使老鼠发生了初次性行为，并在初夜过后变少或消失。《新科学家》报告称，将来有可能会发明出一种能令这种脊髓组织增加的药丸，为人类服务。这种药丸将有助于提升性欲。
美国神经学家斯图亚特?托比特说，这些研究让人们能够“一睹大脑脊髓结构的改变对于老鼠性能力的影响，这种影响也许可以推及包括人类在内的其他哺乳动物。”
一旦这种脊髓组织的使命完成了，它们就不再被需要，因而也就减少或消失了。
而且，据《新科学家》本周的报道，这种微小的脊髓组织还会影响男人的早期性行为。
现在已经获知人类和其他动物的几个和性行为相关的大脑区域在两性之间存在着大小之差。
为了查明性行为是否会改变男性较大的这块大脑区域，埼玉大学的研究人员将从未有过性生活的雄性老鼠和有过性经验的雄性老鼠的大脑做了比较。
他们发现，“非处”老鼠的这种大脑脊髓组织的数量明显比“处男”老鼠要低。
研究人员冢原慎司说，脊髓组织的减少可能是由多种因素引起的，包括雌性出现引发的荷尔蒙的改变。
他说，脊髓组织也许是“学习如何性交的单行道”，一旦被使用过，它们就不再被需要。
