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Male sex drug may aid women
Female rats give `come hither' signals
Jun. 29, 2004. 01:00 AM
Could lead to dysfunction treatment
WASHINGTON—Female rats given a drug that mimics a pituitary hormone began giving "come hither" signals to nearby males, leading to hopes it could be the sought-after "female Viagra."
The drug, called PT-141, is also being tested as a treatment for
erectile dysfunction
in men and seems to operate through a central mechanism in the
brain, said lead researcher James Pfaus, of Concordia University
in Montreal.
How it works isn't yet clear, he said, but female rats given the drug darted around to attract the attention of males, and assumed postures that invited sexual activity, the researchers reported.
Pfaus said the research was paid for by Palatin Technologies of Cranbury, N.J., the maker of PT-141, which requested him to run the tests.
He said the source of the funding had no influence on the outcome of the experiments.
The report was published in yesterday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"This is the first step in really trying to understand sexual desire in the brain," Pfaus said. "We hope it will lead to better treatments that women can use themselves for themselves.''
Palatin is conducting phase one tests of PT-141 on women, he said. Such tests are mainly intended to evaluate the safety of a product, and only after that is established can researchers move on to test for effectiveness.
PT-141 is also being tested on males and improved their erectile response, according to a report in the International Journal Of Impotence Research. At higher doses, however, some men experienced nausea.
If approved, PT-141 would be the first drug to treat female sexual
dysfunction.
While there are several products on the market to help treat sexual dysfunction in males, little is available to women and this has been an area of increasing study recently.
source :- http://www.thestar.com | 
