Love Potion and Cuddle Hormone: What Is Oxytocin and How Does It Affect Relationships?

Posted by Allie Mendoza on August 26, 2011

Oxytocin is not really a “love potion” but, it can lead to similar effects in terms of increasing trust, sexual arousal, attachment and bonding. Oxytocin is also called the cuddle hormone. Due to its effects, oxytocin is considered to be a powerful love hormone.

What Is Oxytocin?

Oxytocin is a mammalian hormone made in the hypothalamus. It is stored and released by the pituitary gland in the brain.

Oxytocin is released in response to various stimuli, including hugging, skin-to-skin contact, uterine or cervical stimulation during sex as well as sexual orgasm in men and women.

Kissing, being touched and other sexual stimulation lead to secretion of oxytocin. In turn, increased oxytocin levels leads to a cascade of events involved in sexual arousal and orgasm, including increased endorphins and testosterone levels.

The hormonal, behavioral and brain effects of oxytocin are dependent upon its interactions with sex hormones, such as, estrogen, testosterone, progesterone and corticosterone.

Aside from the brain and spinal cord, oxytonin-containing cells and receptors have also been identified in various tissues, including the placenta and corpus luteum, the interstitial cells of Leydig in the testicles, the retina, adrenal medulla, thymus and pancreas. This suggests that oxytocin has important functions in other tissues aside from its hormonal and behavioral effects.

What Are the Effects of Oxytocin On Relationships?

Studies have shown that oxytocin is involved in many hormonal, behavioral and social effects, such as, increasing trust and reducing fear, increasing empathy and generosity, increasing attachment and bonding as well as sexual arousal and orgasm.

Despite what is known about oxytocin, the role of this hormone is not well understood in humans. However, studies done on praire voles and other animals reveal important hints about oxytocin’s role on human love and relationships.

Long-term relationships are associated with increased levels of oxytocin and vasopressin. Both hormones have been shown to influence monogamous pair bond formation in animals. They appear to have a similar role in social bonding in humans.

Oxytocin and Vasopressin In Praire Voles Are Associated With the Ability to Form Long-Term Monogamous Relationships

Only 3% of mammalian species are able to form monogamous relationships. Just like most humans, praire voles are monogamous. Just like most humans, they also have sex more frequently than is necessary for reproduction. So, praire voles are good experimental models for studying oxytocin, vasopressin and other factors necessary for development of monogamous long-term relationships.

After 24 hours of mating, praire voles bond for life. They prefer to spend time with their mates and avoid meeting other potential mates. The male aggressively guard the female. They groom each other for hours and nest together. After their pups are born, they become affectionate and attentive parents.

Unlike praire voles, montane voles prefer one-night-stand sex and have no interest in monogamy. These vole species are more than 99% genetically alike. The huge difference in their mating behavior is due to oxytocin and vasopressin.

After praire voles have sex, they release oxytocin and vasopressin. If release of these hormones is blocked, they do not form monogamous relationships. Instead, they behave like the promiscuous montane voles. If praire vole couples are prevented from having sex and injected with these hormones, they still form a preference for their chosen partner. When male praire voles in relationships were given a drug that blocked the effect of vasopressin, the bond with their partner deteriorated immediately. Instead of guarding their female partner aggressively, they did not protect them from new suitors.

When montane voles were given oxytocin and vasopressin, nothing happened. Why? Unlike monogamous prairie voles that have receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin in the regions of the brain associated with reward and reinforcement, montane voles do not have these receptors in these brain regions; so, these hormones do not have any effect on their behavior.

The brain in voles as well as humans and other animals has a reward system that is designed to make them do what they ought to do for their survival. Without this reward system, animals won’t do things which are necessary for survival of the species. They continue to eat, drink and have sex because these activities make them feel good due to this reward system. The feel-good reward system is mediated by the release of dopamine in the brain.

The dopamine-mediated reward system appears to be important in formation of social bonding and monogamous behavior in praire voles, humans and other animals. After mating, there is a 50% increase of dopamine in the reward center of the female praire vole.

Studies have shown that people in love release dopamine and other chemicals in the brain, including pheromones, serotonin and norepinephrine. These chemicals stimulate the pleasure and reward center in the human brain.

The distribution of the receptors for oxytocin and vasopressin in brain regions associated with the reward system appears to have an important role in the formation of social bonding and monogamous behavior. The more receptors located in the reward-associated brain regions, the more rewarding social bonding and monogamy become.

Individual praire voles show great diversity in their distribution of vasopressin receptors in their brain. This variation is likely to contribute to differences in their social behavior. Some praire voles appear to be more faithful than others.

A similar variation has been found in the vasopressin receptor gene in humans. This variation is likely to contribute to variation in their fidelity.

Research involving primates appears to support this idea. Studies have shown that monogamous marmosets have higher levels of vasopressin bound to receptors in the reward centers of their brains compared to non-monogamous rhesus monkeys.

What Are the Effects of Oxytocin and Vasopressin On Human Relationships?

Sex also stimulates the release of vasopressin and oxytocin in humans. These hormones appear to have a similar role in bonding and attachment in humans. They are likely to influence monogamy also.

Studies have shown that oxytocin is associated with social bonding and behaviors necessary for developing long-term relationships. Increased plasma levels of oxytocin has been shown to be positively correlated with increased romantic attachment. What does this mean? As the amount of oxytocin circulating in the body increases, feelings of romantic attachment for the beloved also increases.

Oxytocin has powerful effects on human relationships. Its secretion is stimulated by activities associated with love, caring and sex, such as, hugging, kissing, talking, touching as well as sexual stimulation, arousal and orgasm. By increasing trust, empathy and generosity while reducing fear, oxytocin leads to reduction in anxiety as well as greater feelings of contentment and security around loved ones. In turn, these oxytocin-mediated effects lead to greater attachment and bonding.

The effects of oxytocin and vasopressin on bonding, monogamy and other aspects of relationships can vary due to genetic variations. Aside from genetic mutations, polymorphism of the genes for the hormones and receptors can lead to differences in human behavior. Psychological, social, cultural factors can also affect behavior regarding love and relationships.

So, DNA testing associated with oxytocin and vasopressin is not likely to be very useful in determining good prospects for monogamous long-term relationships. Some people will be more bonded to their partners and more faithful than others. Some will prefer one night stands or short-term affairs while others will be more capable of developing long-term monogamous relationships.

Potential Applications of Oxytocin

The behavioral and relationship-promoting effects of oxytocin, such as, increasing trust and reducing fear, increasing empathy and generosity, increasing attachment and bonding can have potential applications for disabling human conditions. The calming and trust-inducing effects of oxytocin can potentially help people with mood disorders and social anxiety.

The downside is that oxytocin can potentially be abused. It can be used to trick people. It can also have potential military applications.

At this time, the benefits from life-enhancing applications of oxytocin outweigh the risk for abuse.

Oxytocin may have a role in treating some forms of autism. Some studies have implicated the deletion of the gene for the oxytocin receptor in the etiology of autism. Other studies have also associated the methylation of the oxytocin receptor with autism. Studies have shown that autistic patients exhibited more appropriate social behavior after treatment using inhaled oxytocin.

By understanding the effects of oxytocin, people can improve their chances of developing long-term relationships. Love can be intoxicating, but it can be unstable and short-term. Relationship breakups can lead to heartaches. Divorce can be devastating to individuals and families.

Long-term success in love and relationships can lead to greater happiness and life satisfaction. By understanding the effects of oxytocin, vasopressin and other factors that lead the initial stages of attraction to the rewarding effects of love, sex, attachment and bonding, you can enjoy greater success in developing satisfying long-term relationships.

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Category Categories: Love and Relationships | 3 Comments »

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