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A new study by scientists at Imperial College London explores whether the hormone kisspeptin could be utilized in the treatment of men with sexual problems that are psychological in origin, an example being low libido.





Attraction, desire and psychosexual disorder



The "innate processes" that underpin human attraction have remained elusive. Considering that attraction is often a steppingstone towards sexual arousal and sexual activity, this lack of understanding can be problematic. Approximately one in three individuals worldwide have a

, whereby an individual experiences issues getting sexually aroused or feeling sexual satisfaction.





"It is crucial to better understand the processes involved in attraction in humans so that we can ultimately design safe and more effective treatments for patients with related disorders," Comninos told Technology Networks. He is the co-senior author of a new study published in the journal JCI Insight that explores the potential of a novel avenue for the treatment of psychosexual disorders – increasing levels of the hormone

.







Kisspeptin



Previously, researchers at Imperial

that kisspeptin can enhance the body's processing of sexual arousal. To advance this work, they next wanted to investigate whether the hormone can be utilized to stimulate the regions of the brain involved in attraction.



"What do you wear to bed? Chanel No.5"



The famous words of Marilyn Monroe from a 1952

resulted in Chanel No.5 becoming somewhat symbolic of sexual desire and lust. Whilst this may sound like a clever marketing campaign, Monroe was on to something.

has demonstrated that the scent activates limbic regions of the brain that are associated with sexual arousal. For that very reason, in the olfactory part of the experiment, Chanel No.5 was delivered nasally to the participants. Whilst they sniffed the scent, the activity of their brain was monitored via fMRI scans.







Credit: Plush Design Studio on Unsplash.









Would the outcome be the same in a homosexual individual?



The sample utilized in the study is all heterosexual males. I ask Comninos whether he would anticipate the results to be similar in a homosexual male: "It is difficult to say but something that would be fascinating to examine."







Forward thinking for psychosexual disorder treatment



"This builds on our previous work that identified a role for kisspeptin in sexual arousal. Now we have found that kisspeptin may actually enhance the processing of smell and facial attraction, which are often the first steps to sexual arousal. We hope our growing understanding of how kisspeptin boosts parts of the brain involved in attraction and arousal can ultimately lead to new ways of treating people affected. However, we still have a long way to go," comments

Professor Waljit Dhillo, NIHR Research Professor in Endocrinology and Metabolism at Imperial College London and co-senior author of the study.





Alexander Comninos, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London, was speaking to Molly Campbell, Science Writer, Technology Networks.



1. Yang et al. (2020). Kisspeptin Enhances Brain Responses to Olfactory and Visual Cues of Attraction in Men. JCI Insight. DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.133633.