Bosch Oliver G, Havranek Michael M, Baumberger Andrea, Preller Katrin H, von Rotz Robin, Herdener Marcus, Kraehenmann Rainer, Staempfli Philipp, Scheidegger Milan, Klucken Tim, Seifritz Erich, Quednow Boris B
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2017 Apr;27(4):372-382. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2017.02.006. Epub 2017 Mar 8.
Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is a GHB-/GABA-receptor agonist currently used as treatment for narcolepsy but also as a drug of abuse. Non-medical GHB users have repeatedly reported prosexual effects including libido-enhancement and lowering of attractiveness standards for partner selection. Here, we examined the putative prosexual effects of oral GHB in healthy males in two experiments both employing randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, balanced, and cross-over study designs. In experiment I, subjective effects of 20 and 35mg/kg GHB vs. placebo were tested in 32 participants using the Sexual Arousal and Desire Inventory. In experiment II, brain reactivity towards erotic vs. neutral pictures was investigated in 15 participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging after 35mg/kg GHB vs. placebo. In experiment I, prosexual effects of GHB were shown by increased SADI ratings regarding physiological, evaluative, and motivational aspects of sexual arousal. In experiment II, erotic visual stimuli activated the bilateral insula, nucleus accumbens (NAcc), fusiform gyrus, thalamus, and left occipital pole under placebo. After GHB administration, even sexually neutral pictures of persons induced subjective sexual arousal and increased activation of the bilateral NAcc and right anterior cingulate cortex, which significantly correlated (left NAcc by trend). Moreover, a psychophysiological interaction analysis showed that GHB increased connectivity between NAcc and ventromedial prefrontal cortex during processing of visual erotic cues, i.e., in the condition in which subjective sexual arousal was highest. Our data show that GHB stimulates hedonic sexual functioning and lowers the threshold for erotic perception, which is related to increased susceptibility of mesolimbic reward pathways.
γ-羟基丁酸（GHB）是一种GHB-/GABA受体激动剂，目前被用作发作性睡病的治疗药物，但也被用作滥用药物。非医疗用途的GHB使用者多次报告了其具有促进性方面的作用，包括增强性欲和降低伴侣选择的吸引力标准。在此，我们在两项实验中研究了口服GHB对健康男性假定的促进性方面的作用，这两项实验均采用随机、安慰剂对照、双盲、平衡和交叉研究设计。在实验I中，使用性唤起和欲望量表对32名参与者测试了20mg/kg和35mg/kg GHB与安慰剂相比的主观效果。在实验II中，在15名参与者中使用功能磁共振成像研究了在给予35mg/kg GHB与安慰剂后，大脑对色情图片与中性图片的反应。在实验I中，GHB在性唤起的生理、评价和动机方面的性唤起和欲望量表评分增加，显示出促进性方面的作用。在实验II中，在安慰剂作用下，色情视觉刺激激活了双侧脑岛、伏隔核（NAcc）、梭状回、丘脑和左侧枕极。给予GHB后，即使是人物的性中性图片也会引起主观性唤起，并增加双侧NAcc和右侧前扣带回皮质的激活，二者显著相关（左侧NAcc呈趋势性相关）。此外，心理生理相互作用分析表明，在处理视觉色情线索时，即主观性唤起最高的情况下，GHB增加了NAcc与腹内侧前额叶皮质之间的连接性。我们的数据表明，GHB刺激享乐性性功能并降低色情感知阈值，这与中脑边缘奖赏通路易感性增加有关。
