Most men have been embarrassed at one time or another by premature ejaculation. Some have had the problem all their lives. They can now take heart — their genes are to blame. A new study shows that genes may come between you and sexual gratification, A team of researchers in the Netherlands has discovered a gene which is linked to ejaculation in men. The scientists who were studying lifelong premature ejaculation, a medical problem afflicting a large number of men all over the world, have found that a man who has two long variants of a particular gene may climax so soon that it may leave him and his partner sexually unsatisfied.

Nearly 25-40 per cent of men the world over suffer from premature ejaculation, which results from a lack of voluntary control over ejaculation. Some of the worst sufferers of the problem fail to hold on for not more than one minute during all or nearly all sexual encounters and, thus, are said to be suffering from lifelong premature ejaculation.

Now, scientists led by neuropsychiatrist Marcel Waldinger at the Utrecht University have shown that genes can be blamed for this. “It is for the first time that a gene has been found to be responsible for ejaculation and premature ejaculation,” Waldinger told KnowHow.

Scientists for a while have known that a particular brain substance called serotonin is linked to sexual activity and appetite. It has been found that people tend to suffer from premature ejaculation when serotonin — a chemical messenger which is responsible for transmitting signals from one neuron to another — is less active between the nerves in the section of the brain that controls ejaculation.

Subsequently, four years ago, scientists elsewhere discovered a gene called 5-HTTLPR. This gene appears to be responsible for the amount and activity of serotonin but the scientists, so far, had failed to make a connection between the gene and premature ejaculation.

Scientists, including the current team, stress that not all those who experience premature ejaculation are suffering from the problem of lifelong premature ejaculation. Lifelong premature ejaculation is early ejaculation within one minute after vaginal penetration always and since the first sexual encounter. This definition was recently arrived at by experts from 10 countries, pouring over data from 100 studies conducted in the last 65 years.

Waldinger made it clear that the study applied to men who have ejaculated prematurely always and not to men who started suffering from it later in life.

For more than a decade, Waldinger — first to predict that lifelong premature ejaculation may have a genetic basis — has been looking for clues to support his hypothesis. His efforts, however, came to fruition when his team discovered the first gene responsible for rapid ejaculation. “We are currently involved in finding other genes as well,” Waldinger said.

It was a golden opportunity for Waldinger, keen on getting to the genetic root of the problem, when he got to study 89 Dutch men who reported this acute form of sexual dysfunction. While looking to the genetic make-up of these patients, with an average age of 36 years, his team found that people with two long versions of the gene ejaculate twice as quickly as those with two short variants. And men with one short and one long variant can hold on 90 per cent longer than those with two long versions of the 5-HTTLPR gene.

This contradicts the notion, held for years that the primary form of premature ejaculation is a psychological disorder, the scientists claimed. “A more profound insight and understanding of the neuropharmacy of ejaculation is the first step towards the development of new drugs,” Waldinger said.

However, not all scientists are excited about the findings which were announced in the latest issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine. For instance, Prakash Kothari, the sexologist at Mumbai’s KEM Hospital, wondered how it mattered whether it was a psychological problem or was caused by a few genes. “Drugs, which are non habit forming or devoid of side effects are already available to treat the problem,” Kothari said. “To me, that is more important,” he said.