"Love Hormone" Oxytocin May Not Work As We Think, New Study Suggests
NDTV
Prairie voles are one of the few mammals that mate for life, and are often used to study social behaviours like pair-forming in animals.
The "love hormone" oxytocin has long been thought key to behaviours including pairing up with a partner and nurturing offspring, but a new study in prairie voles is raising doubts.
The research found that voles bred to lack functioning receptors for oxytocin were still able to form strong pairs, produce young and nurse -- all behaviours previously believed to depend on the hormone.
Prairie voles are one of the few mammals that mate for life, and are often used to study social behaviours like pair-forming in animals.
In past studies, voles given drugs that stopped oxytocin being processed no longer formed pairs, and mothers failed to produce milk for their young.
