Kisspeptin Administration Stimulates Reproductive Hormones but Does Not Affect Anxiety in Humans

What Was Tested

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

Given the rapid development of kisspeptin-based therapeutics, it is important to comprehensively investigate the effects of kisspeptin administration on behavioral, biochemical, and physiological measures of anxiety in humans.

Why It Was Studied

Kisspeptin is a critical endogenous activator of the reproductive system, with escalating clinical interest as a novel therapeutic for common reproductive and psychosexual disorders.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are young adults and adults, both men and women.

Behavioral, biochemical, and physiological measures of anxiety were compared between kisspeptin and placebo visits, using a state-anxiety psychometric questionnaire before and at the end of the infusions, and blood sampling (for reproductive hormones and cortisol) and heart rate measurements at 15-minute intervals.

Blood pressure assessment took place before and at the end of the infusions.

How the Study Was Run

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

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Kisspeptin-10 and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

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

Some participants received a placebo instead of Kisspeptin-10, giving a reference point.

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both Kisspeptin-10 and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Kisspeptins, Anxiety, Luteinizing Hormone, Hydrocortisone and Heart Rate.

Author keywords: behavior and reproduction.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Kisspeptin-10.

Its findings take up roughly 5 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2025 (The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism), a journal based in United States.

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