The effect of a dopamine antagonist on conditioning of sexual arousal in women.

Mirte Brom,Stephanie Both,Philip Spinhoven,Baptist Trimbos,Walter Everaerd,Ellen Laan

doi:10.1007/s00213-015-4201-x

Mirte Brom, Stephanie Both + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4201-x

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Abstract

RationaleDopamine (DA) plays a key role in reward-seeking behaviours. Accumulating evidence from animal and human studies suggests that human sexual reward learning may also depend on DA transmission. However, research on the role of DA in human sexual reward learning is completely lacking.ObjectivesTo investigate whether DA antagonism attenuates classical conditioning of sexual response in humans.MethodsHealthy women were randomly allocated to one of two treatment conditions: haloperidol (n = 29) or placebo (n = 29). A differential conditioning paradigm was applied with genital vibrostimulation as unconditional stimulus (US) and neutral pictures as conditional stimuli (CSs). Genital arousal was assessed, and ratings of affective value and subjective sexual arousal were obtained.ResultsHaloperidol administration affected unconditional genital responding. However, no significant effects of medication were found for conditioned responding.ConclusionsNo firm conclusions can be drawn about whether female sexual reward learning implicates DA transmission since the results do not lend themselves to unambiguous interpretation.

Highlights

The dopaminergic reward system has been implicated to be involved in the acquisition and expression of learned appetitive behaviours (Dominguez and Hull 2005; Fields et al 2007; Richard et al 2013; Schultz 2002), and abnormality in this system has been shown to play a role in the aetiology and pathophysiology of various disorders, including substance use disorders and addictions (De Jong et al 2015; Dunlop and Nemeroff 2007; Root et al 2015)
Despite the substantial amount of research that suggests that mesolimbic dopamine (DA) neurotransmission plays an important role in aversive learning (Zweifel et al 2011), as well as reward learning (Berridge 2007; Berridge and Robinson 1998, 2003; Brom et al 2014a; Di Chiara 1995; Kringelbach and Berridge 2009), to date, no human research has been conducted on the role of DA in human sexual reward learning, while facilitation as well as impairment thereof is relevant in the context of treatment of sexual motivation disorders
To investigate whether DA signalling is a prerequisite in sexual reward learning in humans, dopaminergic tone in healthy women during a sexual conditioning paradigm was manipulated

Summary

Introduction

The dopaminergic reward system has been implicated to be involved in the acquisition and expression of learned appetitive behaviours (Dominguez and Hull 2005; Fields et al 2007; Richard et al 2013; Schultz 2002), and abnormality in this system has been shown to play a role in the aetiology and pathophysiology of various disorders, including substance use disorders and (behavioural) addictions (De Jong et al 2015; Dunlop and Nemeroff 2007; Root et al 2015). The onset of disorders in sexual motivation such as female sexual interest/arousal disorder (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM-5] American Psychiatric Association 2013) or hypersexuality may be explained from a classical conditioning and incentive motivation perspective (Brom et al 2014a; Laan and Both 2008; Singer and Toates 1987). Stimuli that can promote motivation are called incentive stimuli (Bindra 1974; Singer and Toates 1987). Their motivational valence can be unconditional or conditional as a result of associative leaning (Di Chiara 1995). Several studies have demonstrated conditioned sexual arousal responses in animals and humans (Both et al 2011; Brom et al 2014a, b, c; Pfaus et al 2001)

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