Intrinsic links among sex, emotion, and reproduction

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Species survival is dependent on successful reproduction. This begins with a desire to mate, followed by selection of a partner, copulation and in monogamous mammals including humans, requires emotions and behaviours necessary to maintain partner bonds for the benefit of rearing young. Hormones are integral to all of these stages and not only mediate physiological and endocrine processes involved in reproduction, but also act as neuromodulators within limbic brain centres to facilitate the expression of innate emotions and behaviours required for reproduction. A significant body of work is unravelling the roles of several key hormones in the modulation of mood states and sexual behaviours; however, a full understanding of the integration of these intrinsic links among sexual and emotional brain circuits still eludes us. This review summarises the evidence to date and postulates future directions to identify potential psycho-neuroendocrine frameworks linking sexual and emotional brain processes with reproduction.

Related collections

Most cited references 141

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

Positive reinforcement produced by electrical stimulation of septal area and other regions of rat brain.

James Olds, Peter Milner (1954)

0 comments Cited 379 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Neuroendocrine perspectives on social attachment and love.

C Sue Carter (1998)

The purpose of this paper is to review existing behavioral and neuroendocrine perspectives on social attachment and love. Both love and social attachments function to facilitate reproduction, provide a sense of safety, and reduce anxiety or stress. Because social attachment is an essential component of love, understanding attachment formation is an important step toward identifying the neurobiological substrates of love. Studies of pair bonding in monogamous rodents, such as prairie voles, and maternal attachment in precocial ungulates offer the most accessible animal models for the study of mechanisms underlying selective social attachments and the propensity to develop social bonds. Parental behavior and sexual behavior, even in the absence of selective social behaviors, are associated with the concept of love; the analysis of reproductive behaviors, which is far more extensive than our understanding of social attachment, also suggests neuroendocrine substrates for love. A review of these literatures reveals a recurrent association between high levels of activity in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis and the subsequent expression of social behaviors and attachments. Positive social behaviors, including social bonds, may reduce HPA axis activity, while in some cases negative social interactions can have the opposite effect. Central neuropeptides, and especially oxytocin and vasopressin have been implicated both in social bonding and in the central control of the HPA axis. In prairie voles, which show clear evidence of pair bonds, oxytocin is capable of increasing positive social behaviors and both oxytocin and social interactions reduce activity in the HPA axis. Social interactions and attachment involve endocrine systems capable of decreasing HPA reactivity and modulating the autonomic nervous system, perhaps accounting for health benefits that are attributed to loving relationships.

0 comments Cited 295 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Distribution of androgen and estrogen receptor mRNA-containing cells in the rat brain: an in situ hybridization study.

R Simerly, C. Chang, M Muramatsu … (1990)

The distribution of cells that express mRNA encoding the androgen (AR) and estrogen (ER) receptors was examined in adult male and female rats by using in situ hybridization. Specific labeling appeared to be largely, if not entirely, localized to neurons. AR and ER mRNA-containing neurons were widely distributed in the rat brain, with the greatest densities of cells in the hypothalamus, and in regions of the telencephalon that provide strong inputs in the medial preoptic and ventromedial nuclei, each of which is thought to play a key role in mediating the hormonal control of copulatory behavior, as well as in the lateral septal nucleus, the medial and cortical nuclei of the amygdala, the amygdalohippocampal area, and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Heavily labeled ER mRNA-containing cells were found in regions known to be involved in the neural control of gonadotropin release, such as the anteroventral periventricular and the arcuate nuclei, but only a moderate density of labeling for AR mRNA was found over these nuclei. In addition, clearly labeled cells were found in regions with widespread connections throughout the brain, including the lateral hypothalamus, intralaminar thalamic nuclei, and deep layers of the cerebral cortex, suggesting that AR and ER may modulate a wide variety of neural functions. Each part of Ammon's horn contained AR mRNA-containing cells, as did both parts of the subiculum, but ER mRNA appeared to be less abundant in the hippocampal formation. Moreover, AR and ER mRNA-containing cells were also found in olfactory regions of the cortex and in both the main and accessory olfactory bulbs. AR and ER may modulate nonolfactory sensory information as well since labeled cells were found in regions involved in the central relay of somatosensory information, including the mesencephalic nucleus of the trigeminal nerve, the ventral thalamic nuclear group, and the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Furthermore, heavily labeled AR mRNA-containing cells were found in the vestibular nuclei, the cochlear nuclei, the medial geniculate nucleus, and the nucleus of the lateral lemniscus, which suggests that androgens may alter the central relay of vestibular and auditory information as well. However, of all the regions involved in sensory processing, the heaviest labeling for AR and ER mRNA was found in areas that relay visceral sensory information such as the nucleus of the solitary tract, the area postrema, and the subfornical organ. We did not detect ER mRNA in brainstem somatic motoneurons, but clearly labeled AR mRNA-containing cells were found in motor nuclei associated with the fifth, seventh, tenth, and twelfth cranial nerves. Similarly, spinal motoneurons contained AR but not ER mRNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

0 comments Cited 223 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Waljit S. Dhillo:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5950-4316

+44 208 383 3242 , w.dhillo@imperial.ac.uk

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Cell Mol Life Sci

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Cell. Mol. Life Sci

Title: Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences

Publisher: Springer International Publishing (Cham )

ISSN (Print): 1420-682X

ISSN (Electronic): 1420-9071

Publication date (Electronic): 26 March 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 26 March 2018

Publication date (Print): 2018

Volume: 75

Issue: 12

Pages: 2197-2210

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2113 8111, GRID grid.7445.2, Section of Endocrinology and Investigative Medicine, , Imperial College London, ; 6th Floor, Commonwealth Building, Hammersmith Hospital Campus, Du Cane Road, London, W12 ONN UK

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0693 2181, GRID grid.417895.6, Department of Endocrinology, , Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, ; London, UK

Author information

Waljit S. Dhillo http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5950-4316

Article

Publisher ID: 2802

DOI: 10.1007/s00018-018-2802-3

PMC ID: 5948280

PubMed ID: 29619543

SO-VID: 771bbb4e-1e85-4b20-91f0-fb372f49190e

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

History

Date received : 31 October 2017

Date revision received : 27 January 2018

Date accepted : 20 March 2018

Funding

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000272, National Institute for Health Research;

Award ID: P59772

Award Recipient : Waljit S. Dhillo

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000265, Medical Research Council;

Award ID: MR/R000484/1

Award Recipient : Lisa Yang

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Molecular biology

Keywords: amygdala,cortisol,emotion,endocrine,hypothalamus,kisspeptin,limbic system,psychosexual,reproduction,sexual behaviour

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Molecular biology

Keywords: amygdala, cortisol, emotion, endocrine, hypothalamus, kisspeptin, limbic system, psychosexual, reproduction, sexual behaviour

Intrinsic links among sex, emotion, and reproduction

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

Bioscientifica Reproduction

Most cited references 141

Positive reinforcement produced by electrical stimulation of septal area and other regions of rat brain.

Neuroendocrine perspectives on social attachment and love.

Distribution of androgen and estrogen receptor mRNA-containing cells in the rat brain: an in situ hybridization study.

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Author information

Article

History

Funding

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 22

Cited by 10

Most referenced authors 1,337