oxytocin mediates pro-social effects of MDMA

[faustus]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/love-r...5366473947.html[/color]

Love rats reveal agony of ecstasy

THE secret ingredient injecting love into the air at ecstasy-fuelled dance parties may have been cracked.

However, researchers say their success in tricking rats into becoming amorous with total strangers has also raised fears that repeated use of ecstasy may eventually reverse instant lovers into anti-social loners.

Iain McGregor, professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Sydney, said yesterday it had long been known that ecstasy boosted serotonin, a hormone involved in controlling appetite, moods and anxiety.

But many other drugs, including Prozac, also activated serotonin levels without making people want to hug each other. Seeking the mechanism that makes it the "love drug" his team fed rats ecstasy.

"Two rats meeting for the first time would normally sniff each other and then move to opposite ends of the cage," said the professor. But given ecstasy, they quickly formed "an artificial, chemical bond".

"I'd hesitate to say they were cuddling, but they were lying down next to each other, looking very calm. That's rather unusual in rats."

Tests showed that the behaviour coincided with increased levels of oxytocin, a "bonding" hormone usually triggered in human childbirth, when a mother holds her baby for the first time, or when she breastfeeds.

Professor McGregor said that if ecstasy could be used as a tool to unlock natural bonding processes in the brain, it may be possible to make safer drugs to help people suffering anti-social psychological disorders.

However, his team, whose results have been published in the journal Neuroscience, also noted ecstasy's "sociable" effect on rats wore off quickly.

After a few months the rats turned from being unusually friendly to being more anti-social than before they took the drug. And the ugly mood swing seemed to be "a permanent change".

Edited November 24, 2008 by twix elbert

[Torsten]

New Scientists has a less judgemental article on this.

Ecstasy really does unleash the love hormone

• 10:52 04 April 2007

• NewScientist.com news service

• Emma Young

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1153...es-unleash-the-

love-hormone.html

Clubbers who take the "love drug" ecstasy really might be "loved up".

Studies in rats suggest the drug causes a brain surge of oxytocin - the

hormone that helps bond couples, as well as mothers to their babies.

Earlier research found increased oxytocin in the blood of people who had

taken ecstasy. However, many drugs increase blood oxytocin without raising

it in the brain - something thought necessary for any "pro-social" effects.

Iain McGregor at the University of Sydney in Australia, and his colleagues

studied the effects of ecstasy in rats, which, like people, become more

sociable on the drug. "It's very characteristic behaviour. They lie next to

each other and chill out," McGregor says.

The team gave the rats the equivalent of two to three ecstasy tablets in an

adult human and found that the drug activated oxytocin-containing neurons in

an area of their brains called the hypothalamus. When they gave the rats a

drug that blocked brain receptors for oxytocin, the increased sociability

almost disappeared.

Why it didn't disappear entirely isn't clear. It could be that the dose of

the receptor blocker was too low, or that other brain chemicals, such as

dopamine, are also involved in triggering the sociable behaviour, McGregor

says.

"Sensual, not sexual"

The finding ties in with reports from people on ecstasy about how they feel,

McGregor points out. Rodent studies have shown a massive surge of oxytocin

after orgasm in males. “It’s interesting that guys on ecstasy feel more

sensual than sexual,” McGregor says. “It could be that raising oxytocin

levels puts them in that sort of post-orgasmic state where they’re actually

not very good at performing sexually but they feel really good about the

person they’re with.”

McGregor's team now plan to investigate the levels of oxytocin in rats’

brains after they I’ve taken MDMA, and to see which parts of the brain in

particular are affected.

They suspect that the oxytocin release might be implicated not only in the

pro-social effects of ecstasy but also in the reinforcing effects. There is

much research to be done on how drugs of abuse affect oxytocin in the brain,

says McGregor. “What we know at the moment could be written on the back of a

postage stamp.”

Journal reference: Neuroscience (DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2007.02.032)

[ThunderIdeal]

oxytocin definitely seems to be the love-molecule. mothers who even think about breastfeeding raise their level of oxytocin, and when it was blocked in a lioness (why did they test on lions?) she stopped caring for her cubs.

info from BBC neurotransmitters radio series.

[faustus]

one of my fave studies of all time looked at the role oxytocin has on pair-bond formation between voles. the prairie vole is monogamous whereas the mountain vole is polygamous. what they found was that they could turn the mountain vole from being polygamous to being monogamous by administering them with oxytocin when they were with a female partner. vice-versa with the prairie vole; they could make it go from monogamy to being polygamous by blocking oxytocin.

to test polygamy, they gave them a partner-preference test. the voles were given the option of mating with their earlier sexual partner, or mating with a novel partner. polygamy = choosing the novel partner, whereas monogamy = staying with the previous partner.

i just love it when complex and sacred behaviours can be reduced to a simple molecule

[ThunderIdeal]

or a complex and sacred molecule?

before today, my only exposure to the word 'oxytocin' was a bbc segment.

[Rev]

Oxytocim is what they give women a jab of in the leg post partum these days

instread of ergot derivatives

its also in the TCM herb Physalis alkengii

[ThunderIdeal]

i wonder does that effectively reduce the odds of post natal depression? is post natal depression linked to oxytocin as one might guess?

... and can couples have some of that herb and then just be loved-out for a while?

[Rev]

make your girlfriend very happy

everytime

you buy?

[ThunderIdeal]

i'm afraid i'd be feeding it to thin-air, but thanks for the proposition.

edit: seeds/plants for sale?

Edited April 8, 2007 by ThunderIdeal

[Rev]

nah but its on my long list of to finds

btw ist P alkekengii

sorry

no oxytocin

its got hystonin

which acts like oxytocin to cause uterine contraction but with faster action

fruit used in TCM to induce labour

sorry for the rough lead

still.... therell be an oxytocin rich plant out there somewhere

BTW WhereTF is a melatonin rich plant?

you need so little. theres bound to be one, or several

[ajna]

feverfew for melatonin?? i'm pretty sure that's one i've heard of, not sure if it's significant amounts. i remember it because i figured it contributed to it's efficacy in headache treatment

Edited April 8, 2007 by ajna

[Anodyne]

this guy is my research supervisor

Awesome! What topic? (well obviously neuropharm, but what's your research topic?)

[apothecary]

BTW WhereTF is a melatonin rich plant?

you need so little. theres bound to be one, or several

T put up a thread something about Hypericium perforatum containing it.

[apothecary]

BTW WhereTF is a melatonin rich plant?

you need so little. theres bound to be one, or several

T put up a thread something about Hypericium perforatum containing it.

[Μορφέας]

alot of body bulders use oxytocin nasal spray to keep them relaxed and calm during periods of ah.. rapid muscle growth ;) .

been around for a while now, and im quite curious to try it

Edited April 11, 2007 by Narcissism

[ThunderIdeal]

to help them tolerate the pain and discomfort that can follow a workout for weeks?

[Μορφέας]

yup

[faustus]

doesn't have to be here

Edited November 24, 2008 by twix elbert

[liftyourskinnyfists]

still.... therell be an oxytocin rich plant out there somewhere

Apparently blue cohosh has oxytocin. I've also I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion on boards about oxytocin. It seems like it has a lot of potential, and yet I've not come across a single experience report. I'm thinking about ordering some of the nasal spray. Surely, someone else has tried it and can report. I know I'm not the only one with social anxiety. What about precursers?

Apparently viagra increases the amount of oxytocin. http://www.news-medical.net/?id=29102

But since oxytocin is released into the bloodstream upon have an orgasm, then it would seem that this has more to do with viagra takers simply having more sex.

[coin]

can nipple stimulation trigger oxytocin release even when no lactation is possible?

can men get an oxytocin release from having their nipples sucked?

[Monk]

can men get an oxytocin release from having their nipples sucked?

I dunno, coin, but let me be the first to volunteer as a guinea pig for this study

Edited September 1, 2007 by FeloniousMonk

[ThunderIdeal]

coin, i've had the same thought, ever since i heard about the stuff.

i think you're spot-on, but there's no way to know without comparing it to some definite oxytocin.

TEPA, i volunteer you for this most noble task.

[Monk]

Tepa, where the fuck do you get oxytocin nasal spray, is it legal, what are the side effects? It sounds like it would help with the, "what, motherfucker" syndrome that I tend to get when training for a tournament despite my best efforts to be a zen warrior. Something about being physically attacked 2-3 times per week makes one kind of a cunt in day to day interactions. I'm sure my lady would appreciate a little more cuddly behaviour during these times.

Note: I have never struck anyone outside of a ring while training, only imagined it for certain special people

[liftyourskinnyfists]

Tepa, where the fuck do you get oxytocin nasal spray

This is the only place that I've been able to find that sells it.

http://www.verolabs.com/product.php?UID=20...765.101.171.180

They say that a 2 month supply is 50 USD, but a single spray only lasts 2-4 hours so I dont know how many sprays a day they include in there calculations. A few months ago I wouldn't hesitate to order, but I'm a poor jobless college student again and $50 is a lot of money now. I'd be much happier if I could find a plant that boost the levels of oxytocin or of its precursers. Perhaps that would offset the anti-social type negatives that occur during the days after an xtc dose. This discovery makes me a bit uncomfortable as well though. If it works as well as claimed, it could be used as a sort of Orwellian type control just like what was attempted by the US Gov. with LSD, or as one article suggested, it could be used in shopping malls to get people to buy more junk.

[ThunderIdeal]

tempting my curiosity. i'd rather somebody else go first though.