Oxytocin tagged posts

Finding a better route to treating social anxiety disorder may lie in another part of the brain, researchers suggest. The findings of the study show that oxytocin produced in the BNST increases stress-induced social anxiety behaviors in mice. This may provide an explanation as to why oxytocin can sometimes have antisocial effects.

Studies have long suggested that oxytocin – a hormone that can also act as a neurotransmitter – regulates prosocial behavior such as empathy, trust and bonding, which led to its popular labeling as the “love hormone...

One rhesus macaque grooming another, the primary way these monkeys act prosocially toward one another. Work with these animals helped University of Pennsylvania researcher Michael Platt and other scientists draw their conclusions about the function of the amygdala. Credit: Lauren Brent

The amygdala, at the front end of the brain’s temporal lobe, has long been associated with negative behaviors generally, and specifically with fear. But new research shows this collection of nuclei can also influence positive social functions like kindness and what might be called charitable giving in humans. This could have implications for people with autism, schizophrenia or anxiety-related disorders, Platt said.

“What we’re trying to do is both identify and understand the basic brain mechanism that allow...

1st link between oxytocin and anandamide, which has been called the ‘bliss molecule’ for its role in activating cannabinoid receptors in brain cells to heighten motivation and happiness. Anandamide is among a class of naturally occurring chemicals in the body known as endocannabinoids that attach to the same brain cell receptors as does marijuana’s active ingredient, THC, with similar outcomes.

The researchers discovered that social contact increased production of anandamide in a brain structure called the nucleus accumbens, which triggered cannabinoid receptors there to reinforce the pleasure of socialization. When cannabinoid receptors were blocked, this reinforcement disappeared.

Piomelli’s team then looked for a possible connection between anandamide and oxytocin, which is well known ...