How the Hormone Oxytoxin Changes a Woman into a Mom

What causes a mother to respond to her child? It all has to do with hormones. Scientists have discovered that the powerful brain hormone oxytocin acts on individual brain cells to prompt specific social behaviors.

The hormone, oxytocin, is better known for its role in inducing sexual attraction and orgasm. It's also associated with regulating breast feed and promoting maternal-infant bonding. Its precise levers for controlling social behaviors, though, were not known.

"Our findings redefine oxytocin as something completely different from a 'love drug,' but more as an amplifier and suppressor of neural signals in the brain," said Robert Froemke, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We found that oxytocin turns up the volume of social information processed in the brain. This suggests that it could one day be used to treat social anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, speech and language disorders, and even psychological issues stemming from child abuse."

The researchers mapped oxytocin to unique receptor cells in the left side of the brain's cortex. They found that the hormone actually controls the volume of social information processed by individual neurons. In fact, the hormone determined how female mice with pups responded to cries for help an attention. More interestingly, introducing oxytocin into "virgin" mice caused female mice to quickly recognize the barely audible distress calls of another mother's pups before taking over caer for them.

"Our future research includes further experiments to understand the natural conditions beyond childbirth, under which oxytocin is released in the brain," said Froemke.

The findings reveal a bit more about how this hormone regulates child care. More specifically, it shows how it can drastically alter behavior and cause females to change the way they care for offspring.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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