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Comninos AN, Demetriou L, Wall MB, Shah AJ, Clarke SA, Narayanaswamy S, Nesbitt A, Izzi-Engbeaya C, Prague JK, Abbara A, Ratnasabapathy R, Yang L, Salem V, Nijher GM, Jayasena CN, Tanner M, Bassett P, Mehta A, McGonigle J, Rabiner EA, Bloom SR, Dhillo WS. Modulations of human resting brain connectivity by kisspeptin enhance sexual and emotional functions. JCI Insight 2018; 3:121958. [PMID: 30333302 PMCID: PMC6237465 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.121958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2018] [Accepted: 08/17/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Resting brain connectivity is a crucial component of human behavior demonstrated by disruptions in psychosexual and emotional disorders. Kisspeptin, a recently identified critical reproductive hormone, can alter activity in certain brain structures but its effects on resting brain connectivity and networks in humans remain elusive. METHODS We determined the effects of kisspeptin on resting brain connectivity (using functional neuroimaging) and behavior (using psychometric analyses) in healthy men, in a randomized double-blinded 2-way placebo-controlled study. RESULTS Kisspeptin's modulation of the default mode network (DMN) correlated with increased limbic activity in response to sexual stimuli (globus pallidus r = 0.500, P = 0.005; cingulate r = 0.475, P = 0.009). Furthermore, kisspeptin's DMN modulation was greater in men with less reward drive (r = -0.489, P = 0.008) and predicted reduced sexual aversion (r = -0.499, P = 0.006), providing key functional significance. Kisspeptin also enhanced key mood connections including between the amygdala-cingulate, hippocampus-cingulate, and hippocampus-globus pallidus (all P < 0.05). Consistent with this, kisspeptin's enhancement of hippocampus-globus pallidus connectivity predicted increased responses to negative stimuli in limbic structures (including the thalamus and cingulate [all P < 0.01]). CONCLUSION Taken together, our data demonstrate a previously unknown role for kisspeptin in the modulation of functional brain connectivity and networks, integrating these with reproductive hormones and behaviors. Our findings that kisspeptin modulates resting brain connectivity to enhance sexual and emotional processing and decrease sexual aversion, provide foundation for kisspeptin-based therapies for associated disorders of body and mind. FUNDING NIHR, MRC, and Wellcome Trust.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander N Comninos
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom.,Department of Endocrinology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lysia Demetriou
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom.,Imanova Centre for Imaging Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew B Wall
- Imanova Centre for Imaging Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom.,Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | - Amar J Shah
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | - Sophie A Clarke
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | | | | | | | - Julia K Prague
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | - Ali Abbara
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Lisa Yang
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | - Victoria Salem
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | | | | | - Mark Tanner
- Imanova Centre for Imaging Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Amrish Mehta
- Department of Neuroradiology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - John McGonigle
- Imanova Centre for Imaging Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | - Eugenii A Rabiner
- Imanova Centre for Imaging Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom.,Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Stephen R Bloom
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
| | - Waljit S Dhillo
- Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
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Comninos AN, Wall MB, Demetriou L, Shah AJ, Clarke SA, Narayanaswamy S, Nesbitt A, Izzi-Engbeaya C, Prague JK, Abbara A, Ratnasabapathy R, Salem V, Nijher GM, Jayasena CN, Tanner M, Bassett P, Mehta A, Rabiner EA, Hönigsperger C, Silva MR, Brandtzaeg OK, Lundanes E, Wilson SR, Brown RC, Thomas SA, Bloom SR, Dhillo WS. Kisspeptin modulates sexual and emotional brain processing in humans. J Clin Invest 2017; 127:709-719. [PMID: 28112678 PMCID: PMC5272173 DOI: 10.1172/jci89519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2016] [Accepted: 12/01/2016] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND. 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. However, the relationships between these processes are incompletely understood. The limbic brain system has key roles in sexual and emotional behaviors, and is a likely candidate system for the integration of behavior with the hormonal reproductive axis. We investigated the effects of kisspeptin, a recently identified key reproductive hormone, on limbic brain activity and behavior. METHODS. Using a combination of functional neuroimaging and hormonal and psychometric analyses, we compared the effects of kisspeptin versus vehicle administration in 29 healthy heterosexual young men. RESULTS. We demonstrated that kisspeptin administration enhanced limbic brain activity specifically in response to sexual and couple-bonding stimuli. Furthermore, kisspeptin’s enhancement of limbic brain structures correlated with psychometric measures of reward, drive, mood, and sexual aversion, providing functional significance. In addition, kisspeptin administration attenuated negative mood. CONCLUSIONS. Collectively, our data provide evidence of an undescribed role for kisspeptin in integrating sexual and emotional brain processing with reproduction in humans. These results have important implications for our understanding of reproductive biology and are highly relevant to the current pharmacological development of kisspeptin as a potential therapeutic agent for patients with common disorders of reproductive function. FUNDING. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Wellcome Trust (Ref 080268), and the Medical Research Council (MRC).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Matthew B. Wall
- Division of Brain Sciences,and
- Imanova Centre for Imaging Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lysia Demetriou
- Investigative Medicine
- Imanova Centre for Imaging Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Mark Tanner
- Imanova Centre for Imaging Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Paul Bassett
- Statsconsultancy Ltd., Amersham, Bucks, United Kingdom
| | - Amrish Mehta
- Department of Neuroradiology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Eugenii A. Rabiner
- Imanova Centre for Imaging Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Meire Ribeiro Silva
- Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Chemistry, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, Brazil
| | | | - Elsa Lundanes
- Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | | | - Rachel C. Brown
- King’s College London, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Department of Physiology, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah A. Thomas
- King’s College London, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Department of Physiology, London, United Kingdom
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Dhillo WS, Savage P, Murphy KG, Chaudhri OB, Patterson M, Nijher GM, Foggo VM, Dancey GS, Mitchell H, Seckl MJ, Ghatei MA, Bloom SR. Plasma kisspeptin is raised in patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia and falls during treatment. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2006; 291:E878-84. [PMID: 16757546 DOI: 10.1152/ajpendo.00555.2005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Kisspeptin is a 54-amino acid peptide, encoded by the anti-metastasis gene KiSS-1, that activates G protein-coupled receptor 54 (GPR54). The kisspeptin-GPR54 system is critical to normal reproductive development. KiSS-1 gene expression is increased in the human placenta in normal and molar pregnancies. Circulating kisspeptin is dramatically increased in normal pregnancy, but levels in GTN have not previously been reported. The present study was designed to determine whether plasma kisspeptin levels are altered in patients with malignant GTN. Thirty-nine blood samples were taken from 11 patients with malignant GTN at presentation during and after chemotherapy. Blood was also sampled from nonpregnant and pregnant volunteers. Plasma kisspeptin IR and hCG concentrations were measured. Plasma kisspeptin IR concentration in nonpregnant (n = 16) females was <2 pmol/l. Plasma kisspeptin IR in females was 803 +/- 125 pmol/l in the first trimester of pregnancy (n = 13), 2,483 +/- 302 pmol/l in the third trimester of pregnancy (n = 7), and <2 pmol/l on day 15 postpartum (n = 7). Plasma kisspeptin IR and hCG concentrations in patients with malignant GTN were elevated at presentation and fell during and after treatment with chemotherapy in each patient (mean plasma kisspeptin IR: prechemotherapy 1,363 +/- 1,076 pmol/l vs. post-chemotherapy <2 pmol/l, P < 0.0001; mean plasma hCG: prechemotherapy 227,191 +/- 152,354 U/l vs. postchemotherapy 2 U/l, P < 0.0001). Plasma kisspeptin IR strongly positively correlated with plasma hCG levels (r(2) = 0.99, P < 0.0001). Our results suggest that measurement of plasma kisspeptin IR may be a novel tumor marker in patients with malignant GTN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Waljit S Dhillo
- Department of Metabolic Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, London, W12 ONN, UK
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