Basic information

Investigator: RNDr. James Pfaus, Ph.D.
Main recipient: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Co-recipient:  n/a
Research period: 1/1/2026 – 31/12/2028
Total budget: 13,000,010 CZK
NIMH budget: 13,000,010 CZK
Supported by:  Czech Science Foudation (GACR)

Annotation

Theories of the development of paraphilias in humans posit predisposing genetic and/or personality traits, and/or early sexual experience with paraphilic behaviors that are predictive of sexual arousal and/or orgasm. It is impossible to know conclusively what type or amount of experience during early sexual development leads to paraphilic interests, and what kind of brain activation sustains those interests into adulthood.

The proposed studies will examine the development of paraphilic-like preferences for neutral or aversive odors, or neutral somatosensory stimuli that are paired with orgasm-like responses in male rats.

We have shown that the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone and the lysine-specific demethylase inhibitor oryzin can block conditioning, indicating that opioid-induced epigenetic changes are important for its development.

We will extend these findings to examine common brain regions activated by the conditioned stimuli, and within those regions, to examine demethylated and methylated states of genes with either excitatory or inhibitory actions on sexual behavior.