{"id":140,"date":"2015-04-06T12:39:32","date_gmt":"2015-04-06T12:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/?p=140"},"modified":"2015-07-19T12:15:36","modified_gmt":"2015-07-19T12:15:36","slug":"oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxytocin the \u2018Love Hormone\u2019? Nah!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"love<\/p>\n

By Robyn McQuaid, Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve heard of oxytocin, the \u2018love hormone\u2019, right? You know, it\u2019s that chemical (hormone) released in our brain that makes us want to cuddle, and is released during sex? Maybe you\u2019ve heard of it as the hormone that is released during breast feeding that helps enhance mother-infant bonding? In fact, this is what was first discovered about oxytocin \u2013 it is released in large quantities during suckling and labor (Carter, 1998; Van Tol, 1988). Recently, there has been a surge of interest in this hormone, making it particularly popular in research related to prosocial behaviors. This may be because it was discovered that oxytocin can be manipulated by administering it through a nasal spray, causing individuals to become more socially accommodating. For instance, just one administration of intranasal oxytocin causes individuals to display enhanced generosity (Zak et al., 2007), trust (Kosfeld et al., 2005) and empathy towards others (Domes et al., 2007; Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2013).<\/p>\n

So then it\u2019s settled, oxytocin really is a lovable \u2018cuddle chemical\u2019. Well, that would be just too simple! As it turns out there seems to be a darker side to this hormone. In fact, intranasal oxytocin administration also increased aggressive behaviors towards competing members from other groups (De Dreu et al., 2010). In a subgroup of individuals it was associated with aggression and violent behaviors towards a romantic partner (DeWall et al., 2014). And it has\u00a0even been linked to increased lying to benefit one\u2019s in-group members (De Deru et al., 2014). Rodent studies also support this notion as intranasal oxytocin promoted maternal aggression in response to an intruder (Jia et al., 2008). Furthermore, mice with increased oxytocin receptors (receptors are the place where oxytocin binds to have its effects) displayed elevated fear and anxiety in response to a negative social stressor (Guzm\u00e1n et al., 2013).<\/p>\n

\"rejection\"This is where our research comes in. Instead of manipulating oxytocin through nasal spray, we were interested in examining genetic variants of the oxytocin receptor gene (the gene that codes for oxytocin receptors). It had been suggested that having a particular oxytocin receptor genotype was associated with greater prosociality. We examined whether having this \u2018prosocial\u2019 oxytocin genotype would be beneficial to individuals who experienced adversity, such as childhood maltreatment. We had university students come into the lab where we collected their saliva and had them answer questionnaires. We determined oxytocin genotypes from their saliva samples and associated them to experiences of early-life maltreatment and depression scores. What we found was surprising! Individuals with the oxytocin genotype that had typically been viewed as \u2018prosocial\u2019 were more likely to experience higher<\/em> depressive symptoms following childhood maltreatment. Once again, the oxytocin story is not so simple! Could it be that individuals carrying the more \u2018prosocial\u2019 genotype were more hurt and affected by the maltreatment? We suggested that individuals carrying the more prosocial oxytocin genotype might actually be more sensitive to their environments, and for better or worse, be affected by early-life experiences. In essence, these individuals may thrive in a positive environment. But, this same genotype may encourage susceptibility to poor outcomes in a negative environment (McQuaid et al., 2013).<\/p>\n

We asked ourselves, is this effect specific to early-life adversity, or would it be found in other contexts\/environments? Once again we had university students come into the lab and provide saliva samples, but this time we had them play an on-line computer game called Cyberball. Cyberball is a simulated ball-throwing game that induces social ostracism (Williams, 2000). Participants played a game of catch with two other co-players that they believed to be real, but were actually simulated. They either received the ball an equal number of times (they were in the included condition) or received the ball twice and then no longer (the excluded\/ostracized condition). What we found was that individuals with that \u2018prosocial\u2019 oxytocin genotype, were more affected by ostracism, displaying lower levels of self-esteem and elevated blood pressure and cortisol (a stress hormone) levels following exclusion (McQuaid et al., 2015).<\/p>\n

What does this all mean? Well for starters, calling oxytocin the \u2018love hormone\u2019 or the \u2018cuddle chemical\u2019 is a huge oversimplification! In fact, oxytocin may just be increasing the salience of social cues. So, yes, oxytocin can facilitate cuddling in the right circumstance, but if you are feeling socially rejected, oxytocin might only make this hurtful experience more painful. Given this, what good is oxytocin? Can or should it be offered as a potential treatment in clinical populations? Well, among healthy individuals, who presumably do not display social processing deficits, oxytocin administration could actually have adverse consequences rendering individuals overly sensitive within social situations (Cardoso et al., 2014). But for people with social deficits, such as individuals with autism spectrum disorders, intranasal oxytocin has been effective at improving social cognition (Hollander, 2007). So for now, let\u2019s just say, the popular \u2018cuddle chemical\u2019 would be more accurately referred to as the \u2018contextual-sensitive mood chemical\u2019, but that doesn\u2019t make for a sexy headline.<\/p>\n

Based on:<\/p>\n

McQuaid, R.J.,<\/em><\/strong> McInnis, O.A., Stead, J.D., Matheson K., & Anisman, H. (2013). A paradoxical associated of an oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism: Early-life adversity and vulnerability to depression. Frontiers in Neuroscience<\/em>, 7: 128.<\/p>\n

McQuaid, R.J.,<\/em><\/strong> McInnis, O.A., Matheson K., & Anisman, H. (2015). Distress of ostracism: Oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism confers sensitivity to social exclusion. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.<\/em> [Epub ahead of print].<\/p>\n

Images courtesy of SOMMAI at FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robyn McQuaid, Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University You\u2019ve heard of oxytocin, the \u2018love hormone\u2019, right? You know, it\u2019s that chemical (hormone) released in our brain that makes us want to cuddle, and is released during sex? Maybe you\u2019ve heard of it as the hormone that is released during breast feeding that helps enhance mother-infant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,114],"tags":[21,20,17,18,19],"yoast_head":"\nOxytocin the \u2018Love Hormone\u2019? Nah! - CHAIM Centre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Oxytocin has been described as the 'love hormone' due to link with prosocial behaviours. But may just make people more socially sensitive.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CHAIM Centre\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/\",\"name\":\"Oxytocin the \u2018Love Hormone\u2019? Nah! - CHAIM Centre\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-06T12:39:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-19T12:15:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#\/schema\/person\/8729723af1fbe55a7efe1e874cdfd06b\"},\"description\":\"Oxytocin has been described as the 'love hormone' due to link with prosocial behaviours. But may just make people more socially sensitive.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CHAIM Blogs\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/category\/blogs\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Probing Issues & Questions\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/category\/blogs\/probing-issues\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Oxytocin the \u2018Love Hormone\u2019? Nah!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/\",\"name\":\"CHAIM Centre\",\"description\":\"Carleton University\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#\/schema\/person\/8729723af1fbe55a7efe1e874cdfd06b\",\"name\":\"CHAIM Centre\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9674d448938d2533dcd6452157d1bfba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9674d448938d2533dcd6452157d1bfba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CHAIM Centre\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CHAIM_Centre\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Oxytocin the \u2018Love Hormone\u2019? Nah! - CHAIM Centre","description":"Oxytocin has been described as the 'love hormone' due to link with prosocial behaviours. But may just make people more socially sensitive.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CHAIM Centre","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/","name":"Oxytocin the \u2018Love Hormone\u2019? Nah! - CHAIM Centre","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-06T12:39:32+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-19T12:15:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#\/schema\/person\/8729723af1fbe55a7efe1e874cdfd06b"},"description":"Oxytocin has been described as the 'love hormone' due to link with prosocial behaviours. But may just make people more socially sensitive.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CHAIM Blogs","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/category\/blogs\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Probing Issues & Questions","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/category\/blogs\/probing-issues\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Oxytocin the \u2018Love Hormone\u2019? Nah!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#website","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/","name":"CHAIM Centre","description":"Carleton University","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#\/schema\/person\/8729723af1fbe55a7efe1e874cdfd06b","name":"CHAIM Centre","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9674d448938d2533dcd6452157d1bfba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9674d448938d2533dcd6452157d1bfba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CHAIM Centre"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/CHAIM_Centre"]}]}},"acf":{"Post Thumbnail":{"ID":157,"id":157,"title":"MH_IMAGE","filename":"MH_IMAGE.jpg","filesize":104282,"url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE.jpg","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/2015\/oxytocin-the-love-hormone-nah\/mh_image\/","alt":"","author":"5","description":"Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net","caption":"","name":"mh_image","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":140,"date":"2015-04-03 15:45:26","modified":"2015-04-03 15:45:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":400,"height":400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE-160x160.jpg","thumbnail-width":160,"thumbnail-height":160,"medium":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE-240x240.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":240,"medium_large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE.jpg","medium_large-width":400,"medium_large-height":400,"large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE-400x400.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":400,"gallery-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE.jpg","gallery-thumb-width":230,"gallery-thumb-height":230,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE.jpg","1536x1536-width":400,"1536x1536-height":400,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE.jpg","2048x2048-width":400,"2048x2048-height":400,"banner":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE.jpg","banner-width":400,"banner-height":400,"people":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE-200x200.jpg","people-width":200,"people-height":200,"post-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE-300x230.jpg","post-thumb-width":300,"post-thumb-height":230,"rotator-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE.jpg","rotator-image-width":400,"rotator-image-height":400,"video-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-content\/uploads\/MH_IMAGE-360x360.jpg","video-thumb-width":360,"video-thumb-height":360}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/chaimcentre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}