Is oxytocin the cause of erotomania?
Compulsive sexual behavior disorder, or hypersexuality, is characterized by obsessive sexual thoughts and impulsive sexual behavior.
It has a significant negative impact on the quality of human life, but there are still ongoing disputes about whether to qualify it as a disease. Thus, the American Psychiatric Association does not recognize it as a "disorder".
There is no exact data on the number of people in the world with symptoms of compulsive disorder of sexual behavior, according to some estimates, the approximate prevalence is 3-6%.
Does compulsive sexual behavior disorder have any biological factors at its core, and if so, which ones?
Researchers have tried to find an answer to this question. An international team of scientists from Uppsala University, Umeå University and Stockholm Karolinska Institute in Sweden, as well as from the University of Zurich in Switzerland and the First Moscow State Medical University. In her research, Sechenova in Russia decided to focus on the possible role of epigenetic mechanisms that can influence gene expression.
The study found specific DNA differences
It is known that an increasing number of studies suggest a significant role of epigenetic changes in the regulation of sexual behavior and the functioning of the brain.
A group of researchers planned to evaluate changes in epigenetic regulatory mechanisms in hypersexual disorder in order to compare them with changes in other diseases.
To do this, the study included 60 participants (both men and women) who had signs of compulsive disorder of sexual behavior, and 33 healthy volunteers.
The researchers collected blood samples from all participants and assessed the patterns of DNA methylation, an epigenetic mechanism that plays a key role in gene regulation.
To be more precise, the researchers evaluated 8,852 sites of DNA and microRNA methylation (non-coding molecules) with which they were associated. The aim of this painstaking work was to find epigenetic modifications specific to participants with compulsive sexual behavior disorder.
Two regions of DNA were found with certain modifications characteristic only of people with compulsive sexual behavior disorder. They were associated with the MIR708 and MIR4456 genes encoding the microRNA molecules of the same name.
One of these forms of microRNA, miRNA4456, regulates the expression of genes responsible for the level of oxytocin, which is involved in sexual behavior and attachment to a partner.
Since the MIR4456 gene is affected in people with compulsive sexual behavior, it is possible that they produce excessive amounts of oxytocin, leading to undesirable effects. However, the researchers emphasize that so far this is only an unconfirmed hypothesis.
Further research is needed to investigate the role of miRNA4456 and oxytocin in hypersexual disorder, but the results show that studying the effectiveness of a combination of drug treatment and psychotherapy to reduce oxytocin activity makes sense.
Possible role of gene regulation mechanisms
In addition, the researchers compared the blood samples taken as part of the study with samples obtained from a cohort of 107 people, 24 of whom suffered from alcohol addiction.
With the help of this analysis, the researchers intended to find out whether there are any general patterns of epigenetic profiles in compulsive sexual behavior disorder and alcohol dependence.
This comparison showed that both individuals with alcohol dependence and individuals with compulsive sexual behavior disorder had insufficient methylation in the same DNA region. Researchers believe that this may be due to the presence of alcoholism-like symptoms in people who experience constant sexual impulses.
This study is the first to reveal unregulated epigenetic mechanisms of both DNA methylation and microRNA activity, as well as the effect of oxytocin in the brains of patients wishing to get rid of hypersexuality.
The authors, however, note that their study has some limitations, including the fact that the average difference in DNA methylation in and without compulsive sexual behavior disorder is approximately 2.6%.
This may mean that the influence of this factor is not so significant as to change people's behavior.
Nevertheless, at present there is an increasing amount of literature with information about specific genes, minor changes in methylation in which (1-5%) leads to large-scale changes, especially with a combination of multifactorial conditions, for example, depression or schizophrenia.
Thus, further research should be based on the results obtained in the course of this work.
Article by A. E. Boström et al. Hypermethylation-associated downregulation of microRNA-4456 in hypersexual disorder with putative influence on oxytocin signaling: A DNA methylation analysis of miRNA genes is published in the journal Epigenetics.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru according to Medical News Today: What is the mechanism behind compulsive sexual behavior?