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研究发现成人性欲与大脑扁桃核体积成正比
成年人扁桃核的体积一般如杏仁大小。此前人们已经认识到，当我们面临恐惧时，扁桃核就会发生作用，以帮助我们战胜思想上的恐惧。然而来自澳大利亚墨尔本大学的科研人员却表示，他们认为，成年人大脑下部的扁桃核体积的大小可能与性欲高低之间是一种正
比关系。
这个由戴维-路腾斯(David Reutens)领导科研小组发现，当成年男性或女性观看成人电影时，他们的扁桃核就会处于兴奋与激活状态。该科研小组还表示，许多其它动物在进行交配活动时，它们的扁桃核也发挥着关键的作用。
路腾斯领导的科研小组还对45名慢性癫痫症病人的大脑进行了扫描。这45名病人都经过了相关的手术治疗。扫描的结果发现，如果某个病人的扁桃核体积很大，其性欲也相对较强烈；反之亦然。
加拿大肯考迪娅大学的性学专家吉姆-普福斯(Jim Pfaus)表示，澳大利亚科研小组的上述结论是一个惊人的发现。 nature science update
Brain size matters for sex
Researchers have suggested that size matters when it comes to sex - the size of part of the brain, that is1.
According to David Reutens at the University of Melbourne, Australia, a person's sex drive may be proportional to the size of their amygdala, a small 'emotion' centre nestled at the base of the brain.
The almond-sized nugget has been implicated in sex drive before; it is tickled by erotic movies and is vital for mating behaviour in many animals. But the effect of its size was unclear.
Reutens and colleagues scanned the brains of 45 patients with chronic epilepsy, a condition that typically dampens sex drive. As part of their treatment, they had undergone surgery to remove part of their brain, which freed up the remaining areas to run more normally.
Through interviews and questionnaires, the team found that patients with the greater amount of amygdala left intact after surgery had a larger sex drive.
Researchers must now test whether this holds true in the general population by comparing amygdala size and sexuality in a large group, says Jim Pfaus, who studies sexual behaviour at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. If it does, "they've discovered something quite extraordinary", he says.
Huge market
Scientists traditionally think of the amygdala as the part of the brain that processes reactions to fear. But some researchers think it may help us to focus our attention on any emotional cues - be they fearful or provocative. Hence, a larger amygdala might boost the likelihood of a sexual trigger leading to arousal, Reutens suggests.
The amygdala is unlikely to account for sex drive on its own, Pfaus adds. It is intimately linked to other brain regions, including the hypothalamus, which sets off physical responses to arousal, such as erections.
If researchers can nail down the roots of sex drive, they might ultimately hit on drugs that compensate for lack of arousal. Based on the runaway success of the anti-impotence drug Viagra, researchers believe this is a potentially huge pharmaceutical market. The amygdala and sexual drive: insights from temporal lobe epilepsy surgery
Ann Neurol. 2004 Jan;55(1):87-96.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/106599071/ABSTRACT
有意思 应翻译为杏仁核。
一行 wrote:
应翻译为杏仁核。
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-08-13 05:14
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