Oxytocin News and Research

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Oxytocin is a small but potent nine-amino acid hormone secreted within the brain, from the hypothalamus.

Novel oxytocin derivative can reverse Aβ25-35-induced cognitive impairment in mice

Alzheimer's disease (AD), characterized by an accumulation of β-amyloid protein (Aβ) in brain tissue, is a leading cause of dementia.

24 Oct 2022

Wearable soft robot can improve patient experience during unpleasant medical procedures

While most of us are never without our smartphones, robots may also soon become indispensable companions.

21 Oct 2022

How the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin may have heart-healing properties

In this interview, News Medical speaks to Dr. Aitor Aguirre, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Michigan State University, about how the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin may provide heart-healing properties.

17 Oct 2022

Oxytocin induces epicardial cell proliferation, study finds

The neurohormone oxytocin is well-known for promoting social bonds and generating pleasurable feelings, for example from art, exercise, or sex. But the hormone has many other functions, such as the regulation of lactation and uterine contractions in females, and the regulation of ejaculation, sperm transport, and testosterone production in males.

30 Sep 2022

Love hormone can activate heart repair mechanisms after cardiac injury, study finds

Researchers show for the first time that the neurohormone oxytocin has a previously unsuspected function in both zebrafish and human cell cultures: it stimulates mature cells in the epicardium of the heart to become stem-like cells, which can replace heart cells lost after damage.

30 Sep 2022

A psychedelic drug plus psychotherapy could help improve PTSD symptoms

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects millions of people each year, mostly survivors and witnesses of terrifying or shocking events, such as warfare, assaults or disasters. Because existing treatments don't work for everyone, new therapies are urgently needed.

22 Mar 2022

Study finds higher levels of oxytocin in men with hypersexual disorder

Men with hypersexual disorder may have higher levels of oxytocin in their blood than men without the disorder, according to a small study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

2 Feb 2022

Music therapy can be an attractive option to manage menopause symptoms and depressed mood

As researchers continue to seek effective treatment options for menopause symptoms as alternatives to proven pharmacologic solutions, a number of innovative therapies have been shown to improve symptoms.

27 Jan 2022

Study: Pregnant women with disabilities have increased risk for birth complications and death

Pregnant women with disabilities have a much higher risk for severe pregnancy- and birth-related complications and death than other pregnant women, according to findings by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

15 Dec 2021

Previous trauma can affect patients during pregnancy, childbirth and after

Josie Granner, a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, studies the childbearing year for new parents who are survivors of trauma and post-traumatic stress.

23 Nov 2021

Maternal exposure to flame retardants linked with ASD-relevant behavioral traits in offspring

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs, are a class of fire-retardant chemicals that are ubiquitous. They are found on upholstery, carpets, curtains, electronics, and even infant products.

7 Nov 2021

Oxytocin does not appear to overcome social deficits in children with ASD, study suggests

Regular doses of the hormone oxytocin do not appear to overcome deficits in social functioning among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), suggests a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

13 Oct 2021

Mother's voice reduces signs of pain in premature infants

A baby born prematurely often has to be separated from its parents and placed in an incubator in intensive care.

27 Aug 2021

Study shows how experienced mouse mothers tutor virgin female mice on parenting

Watching a mother mouse gather her pups into the family's nest trains other female mice without pups to perform the same parenting task, a new study shows.

11 Aug 2021

Maternal and paternal behaviors in voles promoted by the exact same neural pathways

Like female voles, connections between oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamus and dopamine neurons in reward areas drive parental behaviors in male voles, according to new research published in JNeurosci.

2 Jul 2021

Study highlights the importance of sensory connections in fear learning

Has your heart ever started to race at the thought of an upcoming deadline for work? Or has the sight of an unknown object in a dark room made you jump? Well, you can probably thank your amygdala for that.

25 May 2021

Oxytocin-vasopressin circuit has distinct dynamics throughout embryonic development

The work, carried out by Pilar Madrigal and Sandra Jurado, from the UMH-CSIC Neurosciences Institute in Alicante, a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council and Miguel Hernández University, has been published in Communications Biology, a Nature group´s journal.

22 May 2021

Emotional support animals can provide quantifiable benefits to people with serious mental illness

A team led by a social work researcher at The University of Toledo has published the first empirical evidence that emotional support animals can provide quantifiable benefits to individuals with serious mental illness who are experiencing depression, anxiety and loneliness.

21 May 2021

Genetic mutation associated with autism can impair oxytocin-mediated social behavior

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition involving impaired social abilities, and this makes it a fascinating subject for neuroscientists like Prof. Teiichi Furuichi of the Tokyo University of Science who study the neuroscience of social behavior.

19 May 2021

Researchers apply 'kitchen sink approach' to produce 16 high-quality reference genomes

The flightless kakapo of New Zealand is in trouble. The world's heaviest parrot--representing one of the most ancestral branches of the parrot family tree--is nearly extinct, with barely 200 adults plodding the underbrush of four small islands.

29 Apr 2021