With "female Viagra" hitting shelves, researchers have started exploring how the drug, called flibanserin, affects the brain.
Inhibited sexual desire, known as hypoactive sexual desire disorder, affects premenopausal women, but no biological cause is known. In people, it can make physical intimacy difficult or impossible.
University of Wisconsin-Madison's David Abbott and Alexander Converse studied the effects of flibanserin in the common marmoset, a monkey for which pair bonding is instrumental to mating success and family life.
Abbott and Converse linked flibanserin-initiated decreases in female metabolism in the parts of the brain associated with executive function with increased pair bonding. Although both males and females in the study initiated more grooming, the behavior was more pronounced in the males, even though only females received the drug.
The amount of metabolic decline correlated directly with an increase in grooming by a male partner. In short, the bigger the metabolic dip in brain activity, the more grooming.
The researchers say that despite the increased intimate attention inspired by the drug, there is much room for improvement with flibanserin and related drugs. For example, it works in only about 10 percent of patients, according to FDA data. And unlike Viagra, where one pill does the trick, flibanserin, sold under the brand name Addyi, must be taken over time to have an effect. Side effects can be serious and include severely low blood pressure and potential loss of consciousness. Alcohol consumption, certain medicines and liver impairment can exacerbate the risks.
The study appears online in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.