Amylin (AMY) is a peptide of pancreatic origin principally involved in the
carbohydrate metabolism, but that may interfere with central and peripheral
dopamine (DA) pathways. The peptide, injected intracerebroventricularly (I
CV) at the dose of 2.5 mu g/rat, induced a decrease of copulatory activity
in good copulators (GCO) and sluggish (SLU) male rats. The dose of 0.1 mu g
/rat did not affect significantly the sexual behavior of GCO rats, whereas
AMY 0.5 mu g/rat increased only the latency and reduced the frequency of ej
aculation. At the dose of 2.5 mu g/rat AMY antagonized the activation of se
xual behavior induced by the DA receptor agonist, apomorphine administered
subcutaneously (SC) at the dose of 100 mu g/kg. Moreover, this inhibitory e
ffect was blocked hy the calcitonin gene-related peptide and AMY receptor a
ntagonist, CGRP (8-37) fragment (injected ICV at the dose of 1 mu g/rat). T
hese data suggest that AMY may exert inhibitory effects on male sexual beha
vior in rats, probably interfering with central DA neurotransmission and wi
th CGRP receptors. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.