Love: is it just a fleeting high fueled by brain chemicals?
Study looks at the psychology and neurobiology of attraction and love.... Read More...
Oxytocin
‘Love hormone’ oxytocin improves attachment issues in people with autism
Male patients on the autism spectrum who were given oxytocin for four weeks experienced improvements in social attachment behaviors for up to 12 months.... Read More...
America’s most widely consumed cooking oil causes genetic changes in the brain
Soybean oil, the most consumed cooking oil in the US, has been linked to neurological and metabolic alterations in mice. Soybean oil-fed mice showed decreased levels of oxytocin in the hypothalamus. ... Read More...
Surprising effects of oxytocin on cocaine addiction
In men with a history of childhood trauma, oxytocin reduced the activity within the amygdala and cravings for cocaine. Women who were addicted to cocaine and had experienced childhood trauma showed an increase in amygdala activity following exposure to oxytocin.... Read More...
Mothers’ behavior influences bonding hormone oxytocin in babies
Greater maternal involvement upregulates the oxytocin system in their babies.... Read More...
Fish fathers exhibit signatures of ‘baby brain’ that may facilitate parental care behavior
Genomic analysis reveals some of the neurogenomic dynamics closely resemble changes associated with pregnancy and reproduction in mammalian mothers.... Read More...
Hormone potentially linked to hypersexual disorder identified
Study implicates dysregulation of epigenetic mechanisms of both DNA methylation and microRNA activity, in addition to oxytocin to hypersexuality.... Read More...
The neurochemistry of social perception
Researchers examined the effects oxytocin and vasopressin had on perceptions of social dominance. Oxytocin increased perception of greater dominance. Neuroimaging revealed the findings were also reflected in changes in brain regions associated with social perception.... Read More...
‘Love hormone’ has stomach-turning effect in starfish
Oxytocin, a hormone commonly associated with love and bonding in humans, causes starfish to turn their stomachs inside-out to feed. The findings provide vital new evidence for the evolutionary role of oxytocin and vasopressin neuropeptides as regulators of feeding in animals.... Read More...
Scientists find clue to ‘maternal instinct’
Researchers identify a group of neurons that are activated by oxytocin in an area of the female brain, but which are not present in the same area of a male mouse brain. Altered expression of these neurons may result in postpartum depression.... Read More...
Some women could be more susceptible to PTSD than others
Oxytocin and cortisol levels are higher in women with dissociative PTSD.... Read More...
Oxytocin could help treat alcohol use disorder: Rat Study
Administering oxytocin blocks the enhanced motivation for drinking alcohol that fuels alcohol use disorder by blocking GABA signaling in the central nucleus of the amygdala.... Read More...