This Post is a response to a post of @mystifact entitled"Can stress eventually KILL you?"
Oxytocin- The Hormone of Love lust and Labor
oxytocin, a Neuropeptide that is synthesized by hypothalamus and released by the Master of the Endocrine orchestra , the pituitary gland . Chemically it is C43H66N12O12S2...can you read it out?..It looks like the picture below in expanded form...if you do not understand it ..don't worry, we are not going to study its chemistry today.. we will be talking about Its functions and and its importance to human beings...But I'm afraid its functions are way complex than its chemical structure.
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The hormone of Love and the lust
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Oxytocin is the hormone because of which you are able to make love with others, it is the oxytocin which is released when you feel happy, you feel loved and it is the one which is responsible for establishing harmony between people, it is the one due to which there is a strong bond between you and your family and the community...
Social bonding is essential to species survival since it favors reproduction, protection against predators and environmental changes, and furthers brain development.
Exclusion from the group results in individual physical and mental disorders and leads ultimately to death, both in animal models and in primitive human tribes.
Oxytocin and its receptors appear to hold the leading position among the candidates for the substance of “happiness.” If not “happiness,” at least it now seems to be an important brain compound in building trust, which is necessary in developing emotional relationships, a process also referred to as social bonding.[1]
They say it takes a lot of Patience, trust and time to be loved by someone...but they do not know the fact that Small nasal spray of Oxytocin will make you fall in love with a stranger you never saw before, and it is in few seconds...Can you even imagine it?
Experiment done on Prairie vole, a Rodent
The scientific tale of love begins innocently enough with voles. The prairie vole is a sociable rodent, found in the woodlands of Europe and Asia, one of the only 3% of mammal species that appear to form monogamous relationships. Mating between prairie voles is a tremendous effort which takes almost 24 h, following which they bond for life. They prefer to spend time with each other, groom each other for hours and at end, nest together. They avoid meeting other potential mates.
The details of the vole story are fascinating. When prairie voles have sex, two posterior pituitary hormones, oxytocin and vasopressin, are released. If the release of these hormones is blocked, prairie-voles’ sex becomes a fleeting affair, similar to that normally enjoyed by their montane cousins. Conversely, if prairie voles are given an injection of the hormones, but prevented from having sex, they will still form a preference for their chosen partner.[2]
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Oxytocin, the hormone of Labor, breast feeding and role in Bonding with child
When it is the time of labor, posterior pituitary secretes oxytocin which induces strong muscular contraction in the maternal uterus.And then after 9 months of stay in the maternal womb new life begins in the outside world.
It is the same hormone which is responsible for milk ejection, when the nipple gets stimulated at the time of breastfeeding, the sensory nerves send information to posterior pituitary which secretes oxytocin. This in turn causes contraction of myoepithelial cells of mammary gland and thereby ejection of milk.
This oxytocin released during breastfeeding is responsible for development the love and trust that a mother has in her child.
Level of oxytocin appeared to be highest during first hours after parturition and is stimulated by a newborn suckling activities and newborn touching the breast. Lower rates of anxiety and aggression and higher rates of social behavior was demonstrated in mothers having received intrapartum oxytocin infusion.[3]
So, What would happen if there was no oxytocin?
Oxytocin is the hormone because of which you are alive in this worldYour mother would not give birth to you if there was no oxytocin, your father and mother would have never met and made love if there was no oxytocin. Social bonding would not be there, There would be a world where there is no trust or harmony among the individuals, you would be living solitary life without a community....
Social bonding is essential to species survival since it favors reproduction, protection against predators and environmental changes, and furthers brain development.Exclusion from the group results in individual physical and mental disorders and leads ultimately to death.....What would be a world without love,trust and social bonding?.. can you even imagine it?
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