February 22, 2007

Sorry honey, not tonight . . . my mom had a headache 30 years ago!

There's some interesting research being done concerning the effect that aspirin taken during pregnancy has on the adult sex drive of males.

Researchers at University of Maryland's Medical School have found that young male rats, who were exposed to aspirin in the womb or through nursing, have a lower than normal sex drive as adults. During the trials, the mother rats were given low doses of aspirin in their drinking water during their last week of pregnancy and their first week of nursing. This low dose appears to frustrate the wiring of a region in the developing rat brain that regulates sexual behaviors. Sexual behaviors seem to be regulated by the same region of the human brain as well. Though a design with human participants has not yet been utilized, it is not a far-fetched idea that a similar effect would occur in human populations.

A video clip of the investigation can be viewed here under the name 'aspirin and sex drive.' There are a lot of other cool videos there, of which I will probably write one or two posts . . . enjoy!

No comments: