Kisspeptin modulates sexual and emotional brain processing in humans

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Kisspeptin-10, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Sex, emotion, and reproduction are fundamental and tightly entwined aspects of human behavior.

At a population level in humans, both the desire for sexual stimulation and the desire to bond with a partner are important precursors to reproduction.

Who Took Part

The study group was 29 men.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, men only.

Using a combination of functional neuroimaging and hormonal and psychometric analyses, the researchers compared the effects of kisspeptin versus vehicle administration in 29 healthy heterosexual young men.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and double-blind study.

Because people in this Kisspeptin-10 study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Kisspeptin-10 study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

What Was Measured

At a population level in humans, both the desire for sexual stimulation and the desire to bond with a partner are important precursors to reproduction.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Emotions, Kisspeptins, Limbic System and Sexual Behavior.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Kisspeptin-10 in 29 men.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

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 2017 (The Journal of clinical investigation), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Kisspeptin-10 compound page, all human trials.