“Love hormone “love hormone” oxytocin may not play the vital function in creating social bonds which scientists have long believed that it does, a recent study on animals suggests. Prairie voles that are bred without receptors for oxytocin exhibit similar monogamous mating patterns, attachment , and parenting behavior as normal voles, according research.
“While Oxytocin is regarded as “Love Potion No. 9′, it’s possible that potions 1-8 could be enough,” said co-senior researcher Dr. Devanand Manoli, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco’s Weill Institute for Neurosciences. “This study indicates that oxytocin could be one component of a more intricate genetic program.”
Prairie voles are among the few mammals to have lifelong monogamous relationships which makes them the perfect choice for researchers investigating the biology behind social bonds.
Research conducted in the 1990s revealed that oxytocin blocking drugs made voles in a state of not being able to pair bond according to researchers in their background notes. In the process, Oxytocin was recognized as an ovulatory hormone.
To investigate further the connection, researchers utilized gene editing tools to make prairie voles deficient in functional receptors for oxytocin. Then, they tested the voles’ capacity to develop lasting connections to other species of voles.
Researchers were shocked by the fact these mutants were able to pair together as quickly like normal voles.
“The patterns were indistinguishable” Manoli said in a university news release. “The principal behavioral characteristics which were believed to be related to the hormone oxytocin- sexual partners who are huddled together, and rejecting other partners as well as the parenting of parents and fathers are completely unaffected without the receptor.”
Female prairie voles were also competent of giving birth and supplying milk to their babies Another surprise considering the possibility that oxytocin plays an important role in birth and lactation, researchers noted.
Oxytocin has been regarded as vital for the ejection of milk for a long time, researchers claimed. But, half of mutant females were able nursing and wean their infants with success, indicating that the hormone has an important role in a lesser degree than previously believed.
“This is a complete refutation of the conventional wisdom on lactation and oxytocin which has been in existence for much longer than the pair bonding connection,” co-senior researcher Dr. Nirao Shah, a neurobiologist working at Stanford Medicine, said in the announcement. “It’s an accepted fact of medical texts that states that the milk release reflex is controlled by hormones, but we’re asking, ‘Wait a minute but there’s more than this.'”
The mechanisms that allow humans to form bonds with each other are believed to be to be the key to gaining more effective treatments for mental health disorders such as schizophrenia and autism that both hinder a person’s ability to develop social connections Researchers have said.
A lot of hope has been placed to clinical research using the drug oxytocin treat these conditions however, the outcomes have not been as positive.
While the results from animal studies aren’t always viewed in humans This study strongly suggests that it’s easy to believe that one factor, like Oxtocin as the sole reason for social bonding.
“These actions are so crucial for survival to depend solely on one point of possible failure,” Manoli said. “There are probably other pathways or genetic wirings that allow for this behavior. The signaling of the Oxytocin receptor could be one component of that program however it’s not the only thing that can be considered to be the ultimate solution.”
