Increasing a Woman's Relative Humidity

This article is cross-posted from Al Fin, You Sexy Thing!

Sexual specialists have known for many decades that testosterone can boost a woman's sex drive. Trimel Pharmaceuticals aims to take advantage of that knowledge by providing a quick nasal testosterone gel spray -- just to get the juices flowing.

There is a lot of talk about designing a "Viagra for women." But that is not what women want. Instead, women would like to have a true aphrodisiac that increases sex drive. Viagra is only a facilitator for sex -- it does not increase the drive, it bypasses the drive. The closest thing to a "viagra for women" would be a moderately slippery and long lasting vaginal lubricant.

Here is more on the testosterone nasal spray "Tefina":

A clinical trial is about to get underway in Australia, Canada, and other parts of the world to test a new female ‘sex-drive’ drug that could increase the libido of women suffering from “female orgasmic disorder.” Called Tefina, it’s a testosterone gel that is sprayed up the nose about an hour before a sexual encounter (how romantic). The developers say the drug could boost female sexual arousal and satisfaction.

...We know women with low sexual satisfaction have lower well-being than women who are satisfied with their sexual life. Differences in sexual satisfaction in a relationship commonly lead to the development of substantial tension within the relationship. This tension does not usually remain confined to the bedroom but seeps into other parts of home life, and sometimes beyond.

Testosterone levels play a key role in sexual function, and that is why our approach is based around this hormone. _io9

It takes very little testosterone to affect a woman's mood -- much less than is required for men. And as long as it is not overdone, the testosterone gel should be quite safe.

More from The Australian:

When it hits pharmacy shelves, in possibly three to five years, it has the potential to be a multi-billion dollar earner for the company co-founded by successful Canadian businessman Eugene Melnyk.

Investors in the company are no doubt aware that about $2 billion worth of Viagra is sold each year in the US alone.

At present, the only treatments for women who are unable to fully enjoy sex are therapy-based, although there are some medical options for women with other sexual desire problems.

The treatment, which would be available only by prescription, would be administered as a droplet-sized dose via the nostrils and will be effective from two hours after it is administered for possibly up to eight hours.

The developers say there would be no ill-effects if the sexual activity did not take place. _The Australian

The spray requires a bit of advance planning, and the effect is limited to just a few hours. In other words, the "nymphomania" will not be permanent. In fact, the drug is likely to be ineffective unless the mood is right.

How will this aphrodisiac compare with others? Difficult to say, especially when there are few other aphrodisiacs which have been well studied and scientifically substantiated. But testosterone has been available for women in other forms, without causing a revolution in sales.

The reality of aphrodisia for women, is that a single approach will not work for all. Some women need a drink or three to loosen up enough for sex. Others may need an emotional thrill or scare -- such as a horror story, a late night motorcycle ride in the mountains, or a sexy action adventure flick. And others may need a bit of old fashioned charm, romance, and good natured humour.

In fact, each woman is not only different from every other woman in important ways -- she is also different from herself from one day to the next. What she will need to feel in the mood for intimacy is likely to vary from one night to the next -- and to change in a more systematic way over the years.

Scientists have barely got a clue as to what trips the switch in a woman's mind from indifference to passionate desire. The answer is likely to be multi-faceted, like a diamond. Or something with gold. Lots of gold.

Aphrodisiac for Successful, Satisfying Sex

Flibanserin was once an antidepressant, but not a very good one. Some women on flibanserin did notice that even though their depression did not get much better, their sex lives did. Now, a pooled set of four clinical trials of flibanserin show a significant aphrodisiac response in women -- particularly at the dose of 100 mg at bedtime.

These trials were the first ever to test a therapy that works at the level of the brain to enhance libido in women reporting low sexual desire, said John M. Thorp Jr., M.D., McAllister distinguished professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the principal investigator for North America in the studies.

"Flibanserin was a poor antidepressant," Thorp said. "However, astute observers noted that it increased libido in laboratory animals and human subjects. So, we conducted multiple clinical trials and the women in our studies who took it for hypoactive sexual desire disorder reported significant improvements in sexual desire and satisfactory sexual experiences.

...Studies have shown that the prevalence of hypoactive sexual desire disorder in the U.S. ranges from 9 percent to 26 percent of women, depending on age and menopausal status. Flibanserin is currently an investigational drug and is available only to women taking part in clinical trials.

...The researchers concluded that treatment with 100 milligrams of flibanserin once a day was associated with significant improvements versus placebo in the number of satisfying sexual events (SSE) reported, sexual desire (as measured by eDiary and FSFI desire domain), a reduction in distress associated with sexual dysfunction (as measured by FSDS-R and its Item 13), and sexual functioning as measured by FSFI. _SD

The science of sexual gratification and fulfillment has been largely neglected over the past centuries of rapid scientific discovery. But that is about to change. Modern PC prudishness is scheduled to be washed away in a deluge of evolutionary consciousness.

Besides -- what good is long life, prosperity, and high intelligence, if your life holds no satisfaction or pleasure? Humans are emotional and physical animals, and they require emotional and physical gratification for optimal development and happiness.

Another Revolution in Pharmacology

Research into the effects of melanocortins is incredibly exciting in its potential to revolutionise medicine. Here are a few of the effects of melanocortin peptides on the brain:

Induction of spontaneous penile erections
Increase of [sexual] proceptivity and receptivity (in females)
Increase of motivation
Increase of attention
Improvement of short-term memory
Increase of visual retention
Lowering of auditory, gustatory and olfactory detection thresholds
Functional antagonism of opiate effects
Inhibition of feeding (satiety-inducing effect)
Antiinflammatory effect (sites of action: brain and immunocytes)
Antipyretic effect
Reversal of hypovolemic hypotension
Reversal of shock
Resuscitation after prolonged asphyxia
Improvement of recovery after traumatic brain lesions and spinal cord injuries
Delay of the aging-linked behavioural deficits
Beneficial influences in neurodegenerative disorders
Increase of regenerative capacity of peripheral nerves in postlesion repair
Improvement of diabetic and toxic neuropathies
_Pharmacological Research

Like I say, those are a few of the effects that have been discovered so far for the melanocortins (melanocyte stimulating hormones [MSH], ACTH). New drugs which can either block or stimulate these hormone receptors will likely revolutionise treatment for:

1. Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disease
2. Stroke
   
3. Diabetic Neuropathy
4. Hemorrhagic Shock
5. Sexual Dysfunction for males and females
   
6. Obesity
7. Anorexia and Cachexia
8. Depression
9. Anxiety
10. Various learning disorders

...and quite a few things more. It is only in the past decades that scientists have been able to distinguish different receptor types for the many peptides and neurotransmitters affecting the brain and nerves. Now, it looks like nothing can stop the steamroller of biomedical and biotech research -- except perhaps bad government that wastes precious resources on policies that have failed for many generations.

If you have an interest in any of the listed diseases or hormonal effects above, visit the linked article and skip down to the section that interests you particularly. It is a long review article that covers a wide range of effects and potential therapies. I strongly recommend learning to read scientific articles -- despite their dryness -- because any person who can draw meaning from the early stages of research can often see into the future, and profit from that vision. If you wait until "science journalists" spell it out and dumb it down for you, it may be too late.

When the baby revolutions of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information sciences, and cognitive sciences begin to grow up and converge, you will begin to understand how quickly things can change.

Smelling Like Sex: Pheromones and Letting Go

Animals of all kinds react to pheromones -- sex attractant hormones -- so why not humans? Apparently they do. In a study at Rice University, women's brains lit up on fMRI scans when the women were allowed to sniff a sample of men's sex sweat. Sex sweat was collected from men while they were watching porn videos. Women's brains failed to react the same way when sniffing non-sex sweat -- sweat collected while men were working out.

Another study at the Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory at Monell Chemical Senses Center, determined that women who are in love tend to fixate on the smell of their lover, and lose the ability to distinguish the scents of other males.

The human sex interaction is clearly a non-rational dynamic. When a woman is swept up into a passionate state, she tends to let go of her inhibitory brain function, and passes into a state beyond good and evil, beyond rationality, beyond accountability. She lets go. How she feels the next morning, when her rational brain centers reassert themselves, may be quite different.

Men tend to wish to take control and dominate. When a dominating male interacts with a female who lets herself go, passion can reach its most profound levels. But there are always exceptions -- the dominatrix and the submissive male.

Generalisations are based upon common observations, but the diversity of natural inclinations in sexual desire is quite great. If an individual's sexual predilections lead him astray of society's traditions and mores, problems can easily arise, including criminal penalties which can be extremely harsh. Within Islam, for example, homosexuals are still stoned to death.

In the future, technology will allow for a wide range of sexual expression. Knowledge of an individual's drives and needs will allow the customisation of the full palette of sexual stimuli. There will be no reason for persons to risk potentially deadly sexual encounters when advanced methods of teledildonics, privacy screens, anonymity devices, and sexual surrogates in full sensory modes will allow sexually intense experiences adapted especially for specific individuals. Such experiences will naturally include the use of pheromones known to trigger the most desired sexual response for the client or companion.

Cross posted at Al Fin, You Sexy Thing!

A1 "Sauce": A Fertile Aphrodisiac

Androstadienone (A1) is a musky steroid that elevates the mood of women, increases feelings of "caring", and makes a woman more comfortable and ready for intimacy.

“It has been shown that when women ovulate, their response to androstadienone is strongest,” says Andreas Keller, a postdoc in Leslie Vosshall’s Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior. “It is also a time when women are apt to reproduce.” By exposing ovulating women to androstadienone and measuring their physiological responses to it, Keller and Vosshall ultimately hope to figure out whether androstadienone, also a derivative of testosterone and potential social signal, affects how men and women interact with one another.___Rockefeller University Hospital

The Rockefeller study intends to enlarge upon the scientific knowledge of the effect of A1 on women--specifically women who are ovulating, thus most fertile. Scientists have begun mapping the areas of the human cortex that are activated by A1. It has also been discovered that not just any "musk" will do. A1 appears to act on the female brain in a way that is unique among "musks."

Previously, we have shown that Δ4,16-androstadien-3-one modulates psychological state, reducing negative mood and increasing positive mood (Jacob and McClintock, 2000; Jacob et al., 2001a). In order to determine whether similar musky compounds also produce these effects, we compared the effects of androstadienone to those of androstenol and muscone, measuring the psychological states of 37 participants. Androstenol and muscone were chosen because they too have a musky odor at high concentrations, while androstenol is a steroid like androstadienone and muscone is not....Androstadienone's effects on psychological state were unique in comparison with those of androstenol and with muscone. Exposure through passive inhalation, rather than dermal contact, was sufficient for these effects.____Source

A1 is available in 10 ml bottles here for US $79.95

Animals are attracted to each other through pheromonal signaling. Apparently, so are humans. The observed "addictive" nature of falling in love goes deeper than the psychological and physical fulfilling of the needs for pleasure and companionship. The brain itself is altered, and shifted into a state of heightened receptivity, by chemical signaling independent of visual, tactile, or verbal exchanges.

The consummate seducer or seductress learns to create a "gestalt", a holistic multi-sensory experience that "opens the gates and lowers the drawbridge" to the fullest extent possible. It is an art that can be learned, but until recently we had all been largely limited to what nature had given us.

A1 is just another in a long line of prosthetic and augmentative love aids which are increasingly being utilised in the ages-long battle of sex.

In the 1970s, Preti said, a researcher named Martha McClintock discovered the menstrual cycles of women who live together synchronize because of unconscious odor cues. Likewise, Preti, an organic chemist by training, said studies have found chemicals in underarm secretions affect neuroendocrine levels, which alter mood.

He and colleague Charles Wysocki discovered that the levels of luteinizing hormone, which affects the timing of ovulation and the length of menstrual cycles, increased in women after sniffing men's underarm secretions.

...Scientists have been able to conclude that pheromones do play a role in altering behaviors in animals and insects. Animals release pheromones to mark their territory, to alert others of danger, or to mark the trail used to find food.____Source

But it also appears that humans are animals after all--despite the denials--human brains are strongly affected by specific olfactory triggers.

Boosting a Woman's Sex Drive--The German Drug

Researchers at German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim have stumbled upon a drug that may be another sex drive booster that works in women. The scientists were looking for a new fast acting anti-depressant, but incidentally discovered that the drug--flibanserin--generated a surge of sexual desire in many women subjects.

Like all companies working on antidepressants, Boehringer surveyed patients in its clinical trial to assess dampening of libido, a well-established side effect. Far from complaining about a drop in sexual desire and arousal, many of the women in the trial reported a surge.

The men had no such response—and neither group showed any improvement in mood. "It is an interesting drug," says Dr. André T. Guay, director of the Center for Sexual Function at the Lahey Clinic Northshore, Peabody, Mass., and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. "These things come about in strange ways."

...."This is not something that can be taken on a Friday for the weekend," says Boehringer Ingelheim spokesman Mark R. Vincent. "There is a gradual increase in sexual desire over a six- to eight-week period."

Pinning down the mechanism is especially critical, in this case, because the FDA views drugs that affect the complicated central nervous system with extra caution.

Source.

The other drug currently in the pipeline with the ability to boost a woman's (and men's) libido, is Bremelanotide.

Some are calling the new female libido boosters "viagra for women", but that only demonstrates their ignorance of both how Viagra works and what it actually does for men--which has little to do with sex drive, and everything to do with the mechanics of joinery.

While women might look forward to flibanserin working its slow way through the drug approval process, men will need to focus their sights on Bremelanotide.

Hat tip Pharmagossip.

Eternal Summer!--PT-141 Makes You: Slender, Tanned, and Horny

Bremelanotide (Palatin Tech Amex PTN) is an agonist for the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) in the brain. As it happens, the MC4R also affects energy balance, thus weight levels. To complete the hat trick for PT-141, as an alpha MSH analog, Bremelanotide (PT-141) also the MC1R which affects pigmentation levels. Put it all together, and you have slender, well-tanned, and very horny people, ready to frolic in the sun, as well as in places where the sun does not shine!

Here is more information with scientific references from The Neurocritic Blog:

Enter PT-141.

Diamond LE, Earle DC, Rosen RC, Willett MS, Molinoff PB. (2004). Double-blind, placebo-controlled evaluation of the safety, pharmacokinetic properties and pharmacodynamic effects of intranasal PT-141, a melanocortin receptor agonist, in healthy males and patients with mild-to-moderate erectile dysfunction. Int J Impot Res. 16:51-9.

Rosen RC, Diamond LE, Earle DC, Shadiack AM, Molinoff PB. (2004). Evaluation of the safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic effects of subcutaneously administered PT-141, a melanocortin receptor agonist, in healthy male subjects and in patients with an inadequate response to Viagra. Int J Impot Res. 16:135-42.

Diamond LE, Earle DC, Heiman JR, Rosen RC, Perelman MA, Harning R. (2006). An effect on the subjective sexual response in premenopausal women with sexual arousal disorder by bremelanotide (PT-141), a melanocortin receptor agonist. J Sex Med. 3:628-38.

Back in April, there was an article in The Observer Magazine and a post in Pharyngula about this compound. A good place to start if you really want to learn about MC4-R agonists is this article:

Nargund RP, Strack AM, Fong TM. (2006). Melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) agonists for the treatment of obesity. J Med Chem. 49:4035-43.

....Funniest lines from the article:

If MC4R agonists induce spontaneous penile erections in men, this would represent a significant impediment to the development of compounds to treat obesity.

The nonselective melanocortin agonists, 1 and 3, have nausea and vomiting as adverse side effects when administered to humans either subcutaneously or intranasally. Attempts to study whether the effects of these two structurally related molecules are mechanism-based have been of limited utility.

Is PT-141 really a miracle drug? That's highly doubtful. But, as PZ Myers said,

Wow. Makes me want to run out and buy stock in Palatin Technologies, the manufacturer.

Source.

As this article reports, research on Bremelanotide is progressing quickly. To this point, safety and efficacy studies look good, for the indication of erectile dysfunction. But we all really know that ED is not what PT-141 is all about. PT-141 is about sexual desire and pleasure for both men and women, whenever they want it.

If weight loss and a good tan come along with the heightened libido, who am I to complain?

Women: Looking for a Faithful Aphrodisiac?

Sex is important for good health.

The previous article here mentioned apomorphine tangentially as an aphrodisiac. But apomorphine is only an aphrodisiac by accident, via its dopamine effects. Just as cocaine and amphetamine can have aphrodisiac effects via dopamine (and probably concomitant reduction in prolactin). Believe it or not, there seems to be a drug in development that is a bona fide aphrodisiac, for women and men.

This article discusses a drug in development that promises to be a genuine, centrally acting, reliable aphrodisiac. Sure, there are a lot of skeptics, there always are. But sexual pleasure occurs in the brain, primarily. It is certain that there exist chemical molecules, electrical forms of stimulation, and methods of self-training, that could all release the potential for sexual pleasure that virtually everyone must possess. This article first introduced the public to this potentially world changing phenomenon a few months ago. It was re-printed last Sunday in the Observer.

Good health, good sex, long life, high intelligence, wisdom, personal freedom, casual affluence, and much more. That is what the next level is all about. The next level is a humanised version of Kurzweil's singularity. It is coming to the world courtesy of a number of people who are sick and tired of the Siamese twins: suffering and stupidity.

Sex on the Brain: Apomorphine as Life Extension Aphrodisiac

Apomorphine is an old drug, dating at least back to the 1860s. It has found many uses, including as a treatment for Parkinson's Disease, and a treatment for Erectile Dysfunction. Apomorphine is also an efficient emetic at proper doses. In the context of life extension and longevity, apomorphine has proven to be a good trigger for HGH release. The drug may find uses in cases of stroke and myocardial infarction. Apomorphine is not an opiate analgesic like morphine, and is not addictive.

I suspect that apomorphine will find many more uses, given its multiple potencies. A good sex life is important for a satisfying life, whatever its length, and apomorphine not only induces penile erection, it also is a dopamine agonist, which suggests that the sex drive itself would be stimulated by apomorphine, and the sex act made more pleasurable.

Given the emetic properties of higher doses of apomorphine, it is not likely to become a drug of abuse. And given the several decades since its initial use in humans, the more lethal and disabling side effects of a drug would have been found. In other words, we have a drug, apomorphine, that likely has a positive effect on longevity via HGH release, and a positive effect on sexual desire, performance, and pleasure. Yet very few people have heard of apomorphine.

Here is some recent research on apomorphine from Shanghai:

Apomorphine (APO), a potent D1/D2 dopamine receptor agonist, is currently used as an antiparkinsonian drug. We have shown previously that APO stimulates synthesis and release of multiple trophic factors, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), in both mesencephalic and striatal neurons, thereby effectively preventing dopaminergic neuron loss in vitro. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of APO on fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) expression and regulation in astrocytes, and furthermore, to identify signaling mechanisms underlying these effects. Here, we show that FGF-2 expression is robustly induced in cultured astrocytes in response to APO. FGF-2 expression was proportional to APO concentration and time-dependent. More at source.

One more thing: apomorphine has been found to be protective of mitochondria in central nervous system neurons and heart muscle. Consider the implications of that when you are putting together your life extension kit.