An effect on the subjective sexual response in premenopausal women with sexual arousal disorder by bremelanotide (PT-141), a melanocortin receptor agonist

Plain-language guide to PMID 16839319 (2006): double-blind randomized controlled trial study of PT-141 (Bremelanotide) and Alpha-MSH.

Key Facts

PMID: 16839319
Journal: The journal of sexual medicine
Year: 2006
Study type: Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Diamond LE et al. (6 authors)
DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2006.00268.x

What This Study Did, in Plain Language

What Was Tested

Researchers studied PT-141 (Bremelanotide) and Alpha-MSH in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Vaginal photoplethysmography was used to monitor vaginal vasocongestion and questionnaires were used to evaluate perceptions of sexual response within the following 24-hour period.

Why It Was Studied

Melanocortins affect multiple physiological responses, including sexual behaviors.

Bremelanotide is a synthetic peptide melanocortin analog of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone that is an agonist at melanocortin receptors MC3R and MC4R.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, women only.

During each session, subjects viewed a 20-minute neutral video followed by a 20-minute sexually explicit video.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the PT-141 (Bremelanotide) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received PT-141 (Bremelanotide).

Some participants received a placebo instead of PT-141 (Bremelanotide), giving a reference point.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Arousal, Libido, Patient Satisfaction, Peptides, Cyclic, Premenopause, Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 3 and Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 4.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of PT-141 (Bremelanotide) and Alpha-MSH.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2006 (The journal of sexual medicine), a journal based in Netherlands.

More context: the PT-141 (Bremelanotide) compound page and the Alpha-MSH compound page, all human trials.

Our Notes on the Compounds

PT-141 (Bremelanotide): A melanocortin (MC4R) agonist that acts on arousal centers in the brain.

Alpha-MSH: A 13-amino-acid hormone that drives skin pigmentation and calms inflammation; afamelanotide (Melanotan I) is an analog.

Source: PubMed record. This explanation is written by PeptideWhiz from the public record. For research and education only. Not medical advice; no dosing information is given.