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Sex-specific but not sexually explicit: pupillary responses to dressed and naked adults.

ABSTRACT: Dilation of the pupils is an indicator of an observer's sexual interest in other people, but it remains unresolved whether this response is strengthened or diminished by sexually explicit material. To address this question, this study compared pupillary responses of heterosexual men and women to naked and dressed portraits of male and female adult film actors. Pupillary responses corresponded with observers' self-reported sexual orientation, such that dilation occurred during the viewing of opposite-sex people, but were comparable for naked and dressed targets. These findings indicate that pupillary responses provide a sex-specific measure, but are not sensitive to sexually explicit content.

SUBMITTER: Attard-Johnson J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5451792 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Sex-specific but not sexually explicit: pupillary responses to dressed and naked adults.

Attard-Johnson Janice J Bindemann Markus M

Royal Society open science 20170503 5

Dilation of the pupils is an indicator of an observer's sexual interest in other people, but it remains unresolved whether this response is strengthened or diminished by sexually explicit material. To address this question, this study compared pupillary responses of heterosexual men and women to naked and dressed portraits of male and female adult film actors. Pupillary responses corresponded with observers' self-reported sexual orientation, such that dilation occurred during the viewing of oppo ...[more]

PMID: 28572991

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Project description:BackgroundConverging evidence suggests that stress alters behavioural responses in a sex-specific manner; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms of stress remain largely unknown.MethodsWe adapted unpredictable maternal separation (UMS) and adult restraint stress (RS) paradigms to mimic stress in rats in early life or adulthood, respectively. The sexual dimorphism of the prefrontal cortex was noted, and we performed RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) to identify specific genes or pathways responsible for sexually dimorphic responses to stress. We then performed quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to verify the results of RNA-Seq.ResultsFemale rats exposed to either UMS or RS showed no negative effects on anxiety-like behaviours, whereas the emotional functions of the PFC were impaired markedly in stressed male rats. Leveraging differentially expressed genes (DEG) analyses, we identified sex-specific transcriptional profiles associated with stress. There were many overlapping DEGs between UMS and RS transcriptional data sets, where 1406 DEGs were associated with both biological sex and stress, while only 117 DEGs were related to stress. Notably, Uba52 and Rpl34-ps1 were the first-ranked hub gene in 1406 and 117 DEGs respectively, and Uba52 was higher than Rp134-ps1, suggesting that stress may have led to a more pronounced effect on the set of 1406 DEGs. Pathway analysis revealed that 1406 DEGs were primarily enriched in ribosomal pathway. These results were confirmed by qRT-PCR.LimitationsSex-specific transcriptional profiles associated with stress were identified in this study, but more in-depth experiments, such as single-cell sequencing and manipulation of male and female gene networks in vivo, are needed to verify our findings.ConclusionOur findings show sex-specific behavioural responses to stress and highlight sexual dimorphism at the transcriptional level, shedding light on developing sex-specific therapeutic strategies for stress-related psychiatric disorders.

Dataset Information

Sex-specific but not sexually explicit: pupillary responses to dressed and naked adults.

Publications

Sex-specific but not sexually explicit: pupillary responses to dressed and naked adults.

Similar Datasets

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