Study: Female brains commonly flooded with male DNA

We already know that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, but there are a lot of similarities between the sexes, too. Earlier in the year, we learned that women are affected by testosterone similar to how men are: It makes them egotistical jerks that don't want to cooperate with each other. Now, researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have made a startling discovery: Most mature womens' brains are filled with male DNA left over from childbirth.

Scientists studied the brains of a number of women, aged between 32 and 101. Approximately 63% of test subjects had male DNA in their brains, a phenomenon termed "male microchimerism." The results support the theory that fetal cells can cross the blood-brain barrier.

It was also discovered that women with an increased prevalence of male DNA in their brains are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Due to the small number of subjects present in the study, however, more research is needed to confirm whether having a male child really does offer protection against the degenerative brain disease.

[via Science Daily]

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

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