Part of our weekly "In Focus" seriesstepping back, looking closer.
Anything nicknamed the "love hormone" probably needs a closer look and a dash of skepticism. After all, nothing in biology is simple.
But lately, oxytocin has been making headlines that seem too good to be truemost recently because of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing that a single spray from a nasal inhaler enhanced areas of the brain involved in processing social information in 17 children with autism.
First studied for its role in childbirth and breastfeeding, oxytocin is at its core a reproductive hormone. Produced in the brain's hypothalamus, and secreted into the bloodstream by the pituitary gland, it triggers muscle contractions during labor. When mothers breastfeed, the hormone works to contract muscle cells around the nipple, causing the muscles to squeeze milk out of the glands and into the milk ducts, a process known as the milk ejection reflex or, as many nursing mothers know it, the let-down reflex.
That's not all. The pleasure that many women feel during breastfeeding is more sensual than sexual, but that good feeling might come as no surprise considering that oxytocin is also released during orgasm in both men and women. The hormone enhances the bond between a man and a woman, and between mother and baby.
But Wait, There's More
Its potential benefits have excited scientists and sparked media interest. Intranasal sprays of oxytocin have been shown to make investors trust strangers in an economic trust game. When men inhale a whiff of the hormone, then look at photographs of their wives and of other women they know, they reportand brain-imaging technology confirmsgreater attraction to their wives, making it something of a monogamy hormone.
In other studies, it has been shown to increase trust, empathy, and generosity. A hug, eye contacteven petting a beloved doghave been shown to release oxytocin and have a positive effect on the pleasure centers of the brain.
It's little wonder that oxytocin is sometimes oversimplified as the love hormone and as the hug and cuddle chemical.
Oxytocin's Effect on People With Autism
Read more:
Oxytocin: The "Love Hormone" Might Also Help in Autism