Love And Sex: Interaction Between Hormones

Love and Sex: Interaction between hormones

Roberto Orozco


It was September 8, 2011 when I first saw the girl I am in love with. A string of emotions never experienced fired through my body and confidence came to me like inspiration and hunger at the same time. So I decided to go for it. I knew I was falling in love, but what I didn’t know was how or why my body reacted to the presenceof that woman the minute she entered through the door of that bar. It was the first time that someone caught my attention and fired up mixed feelings of pleasure, happiness and trust. So I asked myself: what is “love”?
We humans can use more than 20 different words for love in any language. The “love” word is use to describe emotions of strong affection and personal attachment, human kindness,compassion and affection among other feelings [1]. It refers to a variety of different feelings, states and attitudes, ranging from pleasure to interpersonal attraction [2]. Also, love is part of the survival instinct, function to keep human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the species. But, what are the things really involved in those mixed emotions that weexperience when we “fall in love”? It is called Oxytocin. This neuropeptide is involved in a variety of mechanism that goes from feelings of connection, trust and contentment, to its role in sexual reproduction, during and after childbirth. It is released during orgasm, creating the feeling of closeness and desire to cuddle. The oxytocin bond is the basis for lifelong relationships of all kinds thatgoes from parents love, partnership and even two close friends [3].
Not long ago, interest in oxytocin (OXT) was largely confined to its role in female reproduction; more specifically, in milk ejection during lactation and in the smooth muscle contraction of the uterus during parturition [4]. But recent findings in OXT and its role in social behavior has become a target of a large number ofresearch projects.
My aim is to review interaction between OXT, known as “the love hormone” and steroids hormone, specifically Testosterone (T) and estrogen (E), involved in sex differentiation during embryogenesis and secondary sexual characteristics during pubertal periods. I will also include the antagonist for OXT, known as arginine vasopressin (AVP) which is responsible for regulating thebody’s retention of water, increases peripheral vascular resistance, increasing arterial blood pressure. May also be released directly into the brain, and plays an important role in social behavior, bonding and maternal responses to stress, which will help me explain more in details some of the differences between interactions of hormones and social-behavioral effects [5].
OXT is produced mainly in thebrain region known as the hypothalamus and stored in the pituitary glands until secreted by stimuli. It is also produced in the gastrointestinal tract, heart, testes, uterus, corpus luteum, placenta and amnion [5]. It is clear how important this neuropeptide had been through evolution of species, since is involved in a vast variety of functions strongly correlated to the survival of species. Inthe brain, the posterior pituitary is the mayor contributor to plasma levels of OXT at times of biological-significance mating, parturition, suckling and milk letdown [4]. It is a common say that when we fall in love, every time we are in the presence of something that resembles our love one, a feeling of butterflies inside our stomach is produced. This may be because when we receive positivesocial-stimuli, it is likely that it causes reactions in the viscera, and the heart and guts may themselves contribute to a raise in OXT plasma levels. Visceral signals will be picked up by the vagus nerve and will register as emotional signals in the brain. Finally, don’t last long because OXT has a short half-life in the blood, estimated to be no more than 10 minutes [4].
Estrogen (E) and...