Effects of acute alcohol on penile tumescence in normal young men and dogs.

To determine the cause of the inhibition of sexual function observed in normal subjects with elevated blood alcohol concentrations (BAC), nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) was monitored in 11 subjects over three consecutive nights. On the third night alcohol was administered (BAC = 0.154 g/100 mL). We observed no effect of alcohol on the size, duration, or number of erections. These results were confirmed in dogs. The latent period, magnitude, and duration of corpus cavernosal pressure changes produced by pelvic nerve stimulation were not affected by mean blood alcohol levels of 0.327 g/100 mL in three dogs. These results suggest that the inhibition of sexual response caused in conscious subjects by the ingestion of alcohol is not due to a suppression of the underlying spinal reflex but may be the result of its effect on perceptual or cognitive sexual mechanisms.