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[Michaelangelica]

Sex on the brain? No, in the nose
Monday, 6 August 2007
Agençe France-Presse
Sex on the brain? No, in the nose

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PARIS: The difference between male and female sexual behaviour may be explained, in mice at least, by a tiny organ in the nose rather than gender-specific brain circuitry.

So say investigators in the U.S., who admit to being stunned by the finding and the implications for the understanding of sexuality.

In a study published yesterday in the British journal Nature, the team engineered female lab mice so that the rodents lacked a gene called TRPC2, effectively short-circuiting the so-called vomeronasal organ. This tiny organ in the nose is packed with receptor cells that pick up pheromones – scents that can trigger behaviour such as aggression or sexual responses in many mammals.

Sexually rampant females

To the scientists' surprise, the mutant female mice behaved like sexually rampant males. They sniffed and ran after females, flounced their pelvises, mounted and thrust at male mice, issuing ultrasonic squeaks of the kind that males emit when mating.

"Was it good for you too"?
Gender bender: One female mutant mouse – with a genetic mutation that affects the function of the vomeronasal organ – acts like a male by attempting mount another.
Image: Tali Kimc