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Kiss Peptide

Before the kiss: signals, desire, unanswered questions.

Kiss Peptide references

The studies behind the pulse, the desire score and the inconvenient result.

Begin with the surprises

Begin with the GPR54 puberty genetics for kisspeptin and the female Syrian hamster reward experiment for PT-141. One establishes the importance of a signaling system; the other unsettles an overly simple account of what receptor stimulation does.

The mouse GnRH-neuron recordings add the electrical mechanism. These are laboratory findings in mouse neurons, alongside the human genetic evidence.

Then follow the human outcomes

For kisspeptin, the human record here includes LH and testosterone in healthy men, LH pulsatility in hypothalamic amenorrhea, oocyte maturation during IVF and intranasal gonadotropin stimulation. The systematic review of clinical status provides the broader investigational context.

For PT-141, the two RECONNECT Phase 3 trials report desire and distress outcomes, the open-label extension follows continued efficacy and tolerability, and the MC4R functional MRI experiment examines sexual brain processing. The US prescribing information is the source for bremelanotide's approved indication and label cautions.

My strongest interest lies where these outcomes resist being collapsed into one claim about intimacy. The full bibliographic entries follow.

  1. Mills EG, Abbara A, Dhillo WS, et al. Intranasal kisspeptin administration rapidly stimulates gonadotropin release in humans. EBioMedicine. 2025;115:105689. ↗
  2. Velmurugan H, Mannava AS, Thangaraju P, Neelambaran K. Kisspeptin and its current clinical status - a systematic review. Curr Med Chem. 2025;32:1313-1322. ↗
  3. Abbara A, Jayasena CN, Christopoulos G, et al. Efficacy of kisspeptin-54 to trigger oocyte maturation in women at high risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) during in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2015;100(9):3322-3331. ↗
  4. Jayasena CN, Abbara A, Veldhuis JD, et al. Increasing LH pulsatility in women with hypothalamic amenorrhoea using intravenous infusion of kisspeptin-54. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014;99(6):E953-E961. ↗
  5. George JT, Veldhuis JD, Roseweir AK, et al. Kisspeptin-10 is a potent stimulator of LH and increases pulse frequency in men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011;96(8):E1228-E1236. ↗
  6. Liu X, Lee K, Herbison AE. Kisspeptin excites gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons through a phospholipase C/calcium-dependent pathway regulating multiple ion channels. Endocrinology. 2008;149(9):4605-4614. ↗
  7. Seminara SB, Messager S, Chatzidaki EE, et al. The GPR54 gene as a regulator of puberty. N Engl J Med. 2003;349(17):1614-1627. ↗
  8. Borland JM, Kohut-Jackson AL, Peyla AC, Hall MA, Mermelstein PG, Meisel RL. Female Syrian hamster analyses of bremelanotide, a US FDA approved drug for the treatment of female hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Neuropharmacology. 2025;267:110299. ↗
  9. Thurston L, Hunjan T, Mills EG, Wall MB, Ertl N, Phylactou M, Muzi B, Patel B, Alexander EC, Suladze S, Modi M, Eng PC, Bassett PA, Abbara A, Goldmeier D, Comninos AN, Dhillo WS. Melanocortin 4 receptor agonism enhances sexual brain processing in women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. J Clin Invest. 2022;132(19):e152341. ↗
  10. Kingsberg SA, Clayton AH, Portman D, Williams LA, Krop J, Jordan R, Lucas J, Simon JA. Bremelanotide for the Treatment of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder: Two Randomized Phase 3 Trials. Obstet Gynecol. 2019;134(5):899-908. ↗
  11. Simon JA, Kingsberg SA, Portman D, Williams LA, Krop J, Jordan R, Lucas J, Clayton AH. Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Bremelanotide for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. Obstet Gynecol. 2019;134(5):909-917. ↗
  12. U.S. Food and Drug Administration / DailyMed. Bremelanotide Injection — US Prescribing Information (DailyMed/FDA). DailyMed (US FDA structured product label). 2019. ↗