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Oxytocin

·May 15, 2023·8 min read

Oxytocin’s Role in Learning Birdsong Revealed

The study offers insights into the neurochemistry of social learning and draws parallels with language acquisition in humans. The researchers suggest these findings might contribute to understanding autism, as they shed light on the neurochemistry of early social bonds during language learning.

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·May 14, 2023·3 min read

Linking Oxytocin and Vasopressin: A Novel Pathway for Autism Therapy

Researchers discovered an oxytocin deficiency in patients with a rare vasopressin deficiency, a pituitary gland disease. This deficiency could potentially explain symptoms such as anxiety and social interaction difficulties that persist despite treatment.

This shows two hands with an explosion of balls coming out of them.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 9, 2023·5 min read

Context Matters: Oxytocin Influenced by Context of Social Touch

The hormone oxytocin, which is released in social bonding and touch, functions like a dimmer switch, influenced by the situation, according to researchers. A study of 42 women found oxytocin levels were higher when their partners stroked their arms first, then fell, only to increase again when a stranger did the same thing. When the stranger touched their arms first, there was no change in oxytocin levels. The research has implications for administering synthetic oxytocin, such as in nasal sprays, to treat mood-affecting conditions.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·March 23, 2023·3 min read

Oxytocin Plays a Role in the Most Basic Form of Empathy

Study reveals how the "love hormone" oxytocin plays a critical role in the formation of emotional contagion.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·February 17, 2023·9 min read

Prairie Voles Born via C-Section Can’t Bond: Is Birth Key to How We Love and Relate?

Prairie voles born via cesarean section were unable to form pair bonds. However, exposing them to oxytocin allowed the c-section-born prairie voles to form pair bonds upon maturity. The findings raise an interesting question: Is our method of birth more important to how we love and form relationships than we realize?

Featured Neuroscience

·January 27, 2023·6 min read

Fresh Questions About Oxytocin as the ‘Love Hormone’ Behind Pair Bonding

The "love hormone" oxytocin may not play as critical a role in bonding as previously believed. Removing the oxytocin receptor in animal models still resulted in monogamous mating, attachment, and parental bonding behaviors, although females without the receptor produced milk in smaller quantities. Findings reveal parenting and bonding aren't purely dictated by oxytocin receptors.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 8, 2022·4 min read

Oxytocin Drives Development of Neural Connections in Adult-Born Neurons

In the olfactory bulb, levels of oxytocin rise and peak when new neurons incorporate themselves into neural networks. The findings shed new light on adult neurogenesis and brain plasticity.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·October 24, 2022·4 min read

Oxytocin Derivative Improves Cognitive Impairment in Alzheimer’s

An intranasally delivered oxytocin derivative helped improve cognitive function and reduced cognitive impairment in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease.

This shows a heart and brain balanced on a scale

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·September 30, 2022·6 min read

‘Love Hormone’ Oxytocin Could Mend a Broken Heart

Oxytocin, a hormone connected with bonding and love, could help to heal damage following a heart attack. Researchers found oxytocin stimulates stem cells from the heart's outer layer and migrates into the middle layer where it develops into muscle cells that generate heart contractions. This could be used to promote the regeneration of heart cells following a heart attack.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 22, 2022·3 min read

Shedding Light on Oxytocin, the Happy Hormone

A newly developed fluorescent sensor is able to detect oxytocin in living animals.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 20, 2022·3 min read

‘Cuddle Hormone’ Oxytocin Strongly Affects Male Mice on Becoming Fathers

Neurons that secrete oxytocin in the paraventricular nucleus in the hypothalamus are responsible for activating paternal instincts in new fathers, a mouse model study finds.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 17, 2022·6 min read

Why Does Love Feel Magical? It’s an Evolutionary Advantage

Magical thinking and believing in destined love may have evolved as a way to keep couples together and promote childbirth and rearing, researchers say.