Female Companionship Extends Sex Lives of Male Mice

[n2doc]

By Robert Roy Britt, Editorial Director
posted: 25 January 2009 10:50 am ET

When male mice live with female mice, their reproductive years are extended by up to 20 percent, a new study finds.

A similar effect might or might not occur in humans — it has yet to be tested — but the finding has "significant implications for the maintenance of male fertility in wildlife, livestock and even human populations," the researchers say.

The scientists housed one group of male mice with females for up to 32 months, while the others were forced to live like monks. Each of the males was placed with a female at two-month intervals to see if they could get the job done. The males that lived constantly with females stayed fertile for six months longer, on average.

The decline in fertility appeared to be due in part to defects in the sperm-production process, the researchers figure.

"It appears that housing females with a male mouse delays the decline of reproductive processes at the cellular level by somehow affecting the cells surrounding the stem cells that produce spermatozoa in the testes," said study leader Ralph Brinster at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

The finding was detailed this week in the journal Biology of Reproduction.

more:

http://www.livescience.com/animals/090125-male-reproduction.html

[elocs]

1. Well, I'm glad I'm not a mouse.

Maybe they don't really live longer, it just seems longer. Personally, I think given the choice I would choose the shorter lifespan.

[babylonsister]

2. Hahaha!

So you fall into the 'monk' category. :)

[elocs]

3. But not the tv Monk. Funny show though. n/t

[FreakinDJ]

4. This was News - Geez do the Scientist live like Monks or What

[BrklynLiberal]

5. It has long been known that married men live longer than single men...

because their wives take care of them...

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Weird things they spend money to study.

[Harry Monroe]

7. But what of their lives in general?? How long are they extended??

Know why husbands die before their wives?? Because they want to.

I'm here all week!!

[liberalpress]

8. Too friggin' afraid to die!

[joshcryer]

9. Sign me up to test this experiment in humans.

Thanks!

[SnowGoose]

10. Lifespan was not extended - only fertility - and there's a problem

They measured reproductive lifespan. The study wasn't set up to determine longevity, although it's worth noting that the last time-point they measured (32 months) had only female-cohabited males, because the other had all died by that time (groups were too small to test for statistical significance).

But there is a *huge* problem with this study.

Males without females were caged alone - that is not exposed to any other mice. So you're observing overlapping effects of the lack of females, but also the effect of total social isolation. They didn't live like monks, they lived like hermits. Some previous studies have indicated that exposure to surgically sterilized females doesn't have an effect on male fertility.

It was an interesting paper, but they deserve mild spanking for failing to control for such an important factor as solitary confinement.