Study wrapper · #1131
Chronic Subcutaneous Kisspeptin-10 Stimulates Gonadotropin Secretion for 12 Days in Healthy Men.
Editor's note
The finding that matters is the contrast between the two chronic schedules: continuous exposure lost the gonadotropin effect within five days while intermittent dosing held it for twelve, which is consistent with what is known about pulsatile control of the reproductive axis. The retained response to a terminal bolus is direct evidence against receptor desensitisation on the intermittent schedule. Fifteen men across three sub-studies is a small sample, and these are hormone measurements in healthy volunteers rather than clinical outcomes, but the dosing-schedule question is a real one and this study answers it cleanly.
Plain-language abstract
A randomised, single-blinded, placebo-controlled study in 15 healthy men tested three subcutaneous kisspeptin-10 regimens against 12 controls, measuring luteinising hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, and testosterone. Acute eight-hour infusions raised all three hormones in a dose-dependent way. Continuous infusion over five days kept testosterone up but let gonadotropins fall back to placebo levels. Daily intermittent dosing of eight hours on and sixteen hours off sustained the gonadotropin rise across twelve days, and a bolus at the end still produced a response, indicating the receptor had not become unresponsive.