COPYRIGHT 1996 as PERSONAL COMMUNICATION
IMMUNOLOGICAL COMPONENTS TO HUMAN SEXUALITY AND VARIATIONS
For the last several months I've been delving into immunology, prompted
by a realization that nasal perception of other organisms may be due to
more than via olfactory or vomeronasal receptors. An additional component
may be nasal epithelia in other than Olf and VNO locales. The means by which
these non-Olf and non-VNO perceptions might occur may well be
immunological. Such mechanisms could contribute to why humans can, via
smelling of urine, determine differences in X and Y chromosomes and also in
variations of autosomal structure.
Immunological perceptions (IP) in nasal areas would be transduced into
neural signals and brain areas rather akin to regions receiving inputs
from traditionally thought-about Olf and VNO sources. An IP component to
sexual behavior would be part of a symphony of nasal perceptions that
also includes Olf and VNO signals. The molecules that prompt nasal
immunological responses in the non-Olfactory and non-Vomeronasal
epithelia may be other than traditional odorants or pheromones.
An IP component to sexual behavior suggests that heterosexuality and
non-heterosexuality may have causal components closely related to
mechanisms related to immunological recognition of self and not-self,
recognition of and responses to H-Y and similar antigens, etc.
Ramifications are quite nifty: for instance, heterosexuality may derive
from hetero-consistent establishment of clonal immuno cell lines and
also from the suppression of certain clonal immuno cell lines -- whereby
embryo and/or fetus is immunological reacting to itself and to its
mother. Similarly, variations such as homosexuality, transvestisim, and
transsexualism (HM, TV, and TS) might have subgroups causally derived from
patterned responses induced by immunologically encoded variations in
clonal selection and/or clonal deletion, etc., with regard to self,
not-self, sensing of mother as XX and sensing of self as XX or as XY.
That sexuality may have autoimmune-like components is, in a least a
preliminary way, (i) consistent with William Turner's findings of altered
maternal aunt/uncle ratios and infertility and spontaneous abortion within
pedigrees of many homosexuals (Arch Sex Behav, May 1995), (ii) with
anecdotal data indicating a higher than average rate of immuno-related
traits within pedigrees of HM of my acquaintance, and (iii) also
consistent with male HM birth-order findings as reported by Ray Blanchard
and colleagues (and see cites in their articles, eg newest Am J Psychiatry,
Jan 1996). Also, inter-personal chemosensory and behavioral variations
within families could derive from differing patterns of VDJ
recombination, etc.
Teresa C. Binstock, Researcher
Developmental & Behavioral Neuroanatomy
Denver CO USA
Teresa.Binstock at uchsc.edu
PS:
Also, knowing that I've been assembling articles in research of and in
support of the immuno/nasal/sexuality integration, one colleague recently
forwarded me a summarized glimpse into the work of another person
who has been focusing upon pheromonal/immunological/neuropeptide
interactions in circumstances with sexuality-related interactivity.
If anyone knows of references (other than Blanchard and colleagues
and their cites, which included Gualtieri and Hicks, 1985) wherein the
authors document or hypothesize about chemosensory immunological
perceptions as an active component in human sexual desire, I'd very much
appreciate being informed thereof.
TIA
Teresa
