https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22730313-500-semen-has-controlling-power-over-female-genes-and-behaviour/
Citat:
THERE’S more to semen than sperm. In many animals, seminal fluid alters both the bodies and sometimes even the behaviour of females. Human semen, too, triggers changes in the uterus, and might have wider effects on women. In the presence of rivals, the males produce more seminal proteins, including their discovery that one of these proteins is a “master regulator” of genes. Females exposed to it show a wide range of changes in gene expression.
Chapman thinks this kind of seminal signalling is widespread in the animal world. The semen of people, pigs and mice affects the female reproductive tract, and the question is whether it can also produce behavioural responses in female mammals similar to those seen in fruit flies.
There have been claims that semen can do everything from making women sleepy after sex to strengthening the emotional bond with their partner. One 2002 study, based on a survey of 300 students, even found that women whose partners did not use condoms scored lower on a measure of depression. Gordon Gallup of the State University of New York at Albany, who carried out the study, says a PhD student of his has replicated the finding in a survey of 1000 women, but the results were never published.
Eftersom sperma kan ha en antidepressiv effekt på kvinnor så är det ett bevis på att något i kvinnans hjärna ändras av spermier.
Citat:
In flies, seminal proteins can directly affect behaviour because they enter the circulatory system, travelling throughout the body to the brain. “They rapidly get to many places in the female,” Chapman says.
She has shown that seminal fluid induces expression of a range of genes in the cervix, including ones that affect the immune system, ovulation, the receptivity of the uterus lining to an embryo, and even the growth of the embryo itself. As for seminal signalling, she thinks it’s more likely to be indirect, with semen causing the cervix to produce molecules that influence the rest of the body. Her team is studying the effect of three microRNAs – RNA fragments that affect gene expression – released by the cervix in response to semen.
Kvinnans genuttryck ändras av spermier. Genuttryck handlar om vilka gener som ska vara på eller avslagen. Och eftersom sperma bevisligen har en påverkan på kvinnans hjärna kan det handla om att de gener som påverkar hennes signalsubstanser förändras. Troligen även barnets.
Undrar om de gener som påverkar intelligensen också förändras av sperman?
