2 Hormones Found to Play Key Romantic Roles

In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns...but whither, when the year is young?
It matters not, for as long as the hormones are in tune, love can bloom at any time, say scientists who study the genetics and neurobiology of animals whose family thrives shed new light on human sexuality.

Larry J. Young, a Georgia neurobiologist, studies the genes and hormones of the cute but often pestiferous little rodents called prairie voles that mate and bond for life.
The same genes and hormones exist in humans, and in a uniquely literate essay in Thursday's issue of the journal of Nature, Young pointed to the role they play in animals and humans.

"Poetry it is not. Nor is it particularly romantic. But reducing Love to its comprehensive parts helps us to understand human sexuality, and may lead to drugs that enhance or diminish our love for another," he said.

Young, a professor in the psychiatry department at Emory University in Atlanta and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center there, has discovered that two closely related peptide hormones called oxytocin and vasopressin play powerful roles in both animal and human sexuality.
"I call oxtocin the motherly hormone," Young said in an interview, "because its release in the body of femaile voles is involved in uterine contractions, in lactation, and in the mother's early bonding with vole babies. It's also the homeone responsible for lifelong pair bonding between males and females."
"Vasopressin is closely related to oxytocin, but it's dependent on testosterone-so it's the macho version of oxytocin."

In the Bay Area, scientists say Young's research of togetherness in prairie voles is proving valuable to understanding many disorders in the human condition.
"Oxytocin is the hormone of monogamy," said neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, who directs the Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic at the University of California-San Francisco, which also takes male patients.
"If you give men nasal squirts of oxytocin, it increases their trust in others, their ability to be affectionate-it brings out their feminine side, is how I'd put it. Years ago, a man I was seeing said to me, 'Give me some of that oxytocin-I just want to love someone!"

Since monogamy and love are examples of powerful human interactions, Brizendine believes the hormones involved also could prove important in disorders like autism, Asperger syndrome and even schizophrenia, whose victims exhibit difficulty finding close relationships with others.

Young's primary research shows the effects of the hormones on prairie voles, but he also discovered that oxytocin has similar effects on mountain voles, a different species that are not monogamous and do not pair-bond for life. When mountain voles are exposed to doses of oxytocin in the lab, the males will bond with females in a close and sometimes lifetime relationship like their cousins, Young said.
The new awareness of the role of hormones in human relations is underscored in books being published this year by both Keltner and Brizendine.
"Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life," by psychologist Dacher Keltner, is out this week, and "The Male Brain," by Brizendine, will be published in September.

Click here to find amazing vacation deals for anywhere in the World!

Get your Free Report on Surefire Internet Affiliate Marketing Success Here!