SAT-248 - The Investigation of Bremelanotide'S Role in Modulating Sexual Function and Repetitive Behaviors in Mice.

Bremelanotide is a synthetic melanocortin receptor agonist, which is approved to treat women experiencing hyposexual disorders to increase libido. Early research in bremelanotide done in rat models showed improved sexual function in females, but the mechanism involved is unclear. Our lab set out to study bremelanotide’s actions in a mouse model that would permit the use of a wide array of readily available transgenic tools. Surprisingly, our studies showed that bremelanotide induced intense grooming in mice, specifically at physiologically high doses. We therefore decided to characterize this effect of bremelanotide further. Wildtype mice were treated with the MC4R agonist bremelanotide and its impact on grooming behavior was studied. We administered i.p. vehicle or bremelanotide at 1mg/kg and 10mg/kg and recorded grooming for 1 hour for blind analysis. Bremelanotide induces a dramatic increase in grooming behavior that correlates with dosage. Here, we demonstrate that bremelanotide primarily acts through melanocortin receptors on vasopressin neurons to facilitate grooming phenotypes by inducing a knockout of the receptor on the target neurons and subsequently testing grooming phenotypes.

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