Recurring Ethanol Exposure Induces Disinhibited Courtship in Drosophila
January 4th, 2008 4:02 PM
Researchers at Penn State have discovered that male fruit flies exhibit disinhibited courtship behavior toward other males.
Wild-type males typically court females but not males; however, upon daily administration of ethanol, they exhibited active intermale courtship, which represents a novel type of behavioral disinhibition. The ethanol-treated males also developed behavioral sensitization, a form of plasticity associated with addiction, since their intermale courtship activity was progressively increased with additional ethanol experience.
In other words, alcohol makes male fruit flies horny and gay. Wow. WTF?
