Imperial College London researchers wondered whether the same molecule, which acts on brain circuits tied to reproduction, might also touch the circuits behind sexual desire in women who had lost interest in sex.
In a randomized crossover trial, 32 premenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder received a 75-minute kisspeptin infusion on one visit and a placebo infusion on another, while their brains were scanned with fMRI as they watched erotic videos and viewed faces of varying attractiveness.
Kisspeptin shifted activity in brain regions tied to sexual aversion and attraction, and the kisspeptin-driven rise in hippocampal activity tracked how distressed each woman felt about her low desire. The peer-reviewed study was small and the infusion was intravenous, far from a take-home treatment, so a related trial in men is testing whether the effect holds up more broadly.
Read the original study
Thurston et al., JAMA Network Open, 2022 · doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.36131
One hormone, two very different jobs.
Source
- Thurston, L., Hunjan, T., Ertl, N., Wall, M. B., Mills, E. G., Suladze, S., Patel, B., Alexander, E. C., Muzi, B., Bassett, P. A., Rabiner, E. A., Bech, P., Goldmeier, D., Abbara, A., Comninos, A. N., & Dhillo, W. S. (2022). Effects of Kisspeptin Administration in Women With Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open, 5(10), e2236131. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.36131