Premature Ejaculation – NOT YOUR FAULT – The Gene Story

It's an area in a man's life that can be mortifying - when ejaculation happens too quickly or prematurely.  Many explanations from anxiety to actual physical faulty mechanism have been offered to explain the problem.  Researchers who studies 89 Dutch men with premature ejaculation have another explanation - it's in the genes.  The men in this study suffer from a "primary form" of premature ejaculation, meaning they have always had this problem. 

In men who have always had premature ejaculation problems, the substance serotonin appears to be less active between the nerves in the section of the brain that control the ejaculation process.  And this substance also seems to be connected to sexual activity and appetite.  The substance actually transfers a signal from one neuron to another.  Because of the low activity level of the serotonin in these men, the signal transfer does not occur properly in these men - hence the premature ejaculation.  And the specific gene that seems to be responsible for this serotonin activity is 5-HTTLPR.  Three types of gene variations exist: LL, SL, SS.  Men with LL will ejaculate twice as quickly as men with either SS or SL.  Researchers also believe there may be other genes (as well as other faulty genes) at play.

What's most important from this research is the fact that until now, premature ejaculation, one form of ED,  was mostly attributed to a psychological disorder.  This faulty gene finding may help to fuel research into possible gene therapy for premature ejaculation.