Dopamine
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Human Effect Matrix
The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (it excludes animal and in vitro studies) to tell you what supplements affect dopamine.
| Grade | Level of Evidence [show legend] |
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Robust research conducted with repeated double-blind clinical trials |
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Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled |
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Single double-blind study or multiple cohort studies |
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Uncontrolled or observational studies only |
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Level of Evidence
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The amount of high quality evidence. The more
evidence, the more we can trust the results.
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Supplement |
Magnitude of effect
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The direction and size of the supplement's impact on
each outcome. Some supplements can have an increasing effect, others have a decreasing effect, and others have no effect.
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Consistency of research results
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Scientific research does not always agree. HIGH or
VERY HIGH means that most of the scientific research agrees.
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Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Minor
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- See study |
Serum dopamine has been noted to be slightly reduced (37%) during waking at rest, but this decrease was eliminated upon walking
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Minor
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- See study |
The reduction in dopamine seen in infertility seems to be reversed with L-DOPA ingestion; theoretically L-DOPA ingestion should unilaterally increase dopamine
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- | - See study |
Similar to the other catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline), serum dopamine does not appear to be altered with supplemental BCAAs.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Dopamine
Do herbal aphrodisiacs work?
It depends on the product touted to be an aphrodisiac, but some of them do apparently increase sexual desire; it is a relatively under-researched topic though, and we don't know why they increase sexuality.
Does ejaculation affect testosterone levels?
Ejaculation results in changes in prolactin (increase) and dopamine (temporary decrease), but does not result in changes in testosterone. Although prolactin and dopamine are both involved with testosterone, they do not appear to influence testosterone levels acutely.
References
- Exton MS, et al. Endocrine response to masturbation-induced orgasm in healthy men following a 3-week sexual abstinence. World J Urol. (2001)
- Jiang M, et al. A research on the relationship between ejaculation and serum testosterone level in men. J Zhejiang Univ Sci. (2003)
- Krüger T, et al. Neuroendocrine and cardiovascular response to sexual arousal and orgasm in men. Psychoneuroendocrinology. (1998)
- Krüger TH, et al. Specificity of the neuroendocrine response to orgasm during sexual arousal in men. J Endocrinol. (2003)
- Krüger TH, et al. Effects of acute prolactin manipulation on sexual drive and function in males. J Endocrinol. (2003)
- Krüger TH, et al. Orgasm-induced prolactin secretion: feedback control of sexual drive. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. (2002)
- Stahl SM. The psychopharmacology of sex, Part 1: Neurotransmitters and the 3 phases of the human sexual response. J Clin Psychiatry. (2001)
- Motofei IG, Rowland DL. Neurophysiology of the ejaculatory process: developing perspectives. BJU Int. (2005)
- Pharmacotherapy for Premature Ejaculation.
- Assessment of erectogenic properties of apomorphine and yohimbine in man.
- McMahon CG. Treatment of premature ejaculation with sertraline hydrochloride: a single-blind placebo controlled crossover study. J Urol. (1998)
- McMahon CG, Samali R. Pharmacological treatment of premature ejaculation. Curr Opin Urol. (1999)
- Krüger TH, Hartmann U, Schedlowski M. Prolactinergic and dopaminergic mechanisms underlying sexual arousal and orgasm in humans. World J Urol. (2005)
- Passie T, et al. Ecstasy (MDMA) mimics the post-orgasmic state: impairment of sexual drive and function during acute MDMA-effects may be due to increased prolactin secretion. Med Hypotheses. (2005)
