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      Romantic Love and Reproductive Hormones in Women

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          Abstract

          Increased reproductive success is among the most commonly proposed adaptive functions of romantic love. Here, we tested if hormonal changes associated with falling in love may co-vary with hormonal profiles that predict increased fecundity in women. We compared blood serum levels of estradiol (E2, E2/T), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin (PRL), free testosterone (fT), and cortisol (CT), measured in the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle in single women ( N = 69) and in women at the beginning of a romantic heterosexual relationship who reported being in love with their partner ( N = 47). Participants were healthy, regularly cycling women aged 24 to 33 who did not use hormonal contraception. We found that women in love had higher levels of gonadotropins (FSH, LH) and lower testosterone levels compared to single women who were not in love. These groups of women did not, however, differ in terms of estradiol, prolactin, or cortisol levels.

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          A triangular theory of love.

          Robert Sternberg (1986)
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            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.
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              Oxytocin Pathway Genes: Evolutionary Ancient System Impacting on Human Affiliation, Sociality, and Psychopathology.

              Ruth Feldman, Mikhail Monakhov, Maayan Pratt … (2016)
              Oxytocin (OT), a nonapeptide signaling molecule originating from an ancestral peptide, appears in different variants across all vertebrate and several invertebrate species. Throughout animal evolution, neuropeptidergic signaling has been adapted by organisms for regulating response to rapidly changing environments. The family of OT-like molecules affects both peripheral tissues implicated in reproduction, homeostasis, and energy balance, as well as neuromodulation of social behavior, stress regulation, and associative learning in species ranging from nematodes to humans. After describing the OT-signaling pathway, we review research on the three genes most extensively studied in humans: the OT receptor (OXTR), the structural gene for OT (OXT/neurophysin-I), and CD38. Consistent with the notion that sociality should be studied from the perspective of social life at the species level, we address human social functions in relation to OT-pathway genes, including parenting, empathy, and using social relationships to manage stress. We then describe associations between OT-pathway genes with psychopathologies involving social dysfunctions such as autism, depression, or schizophrenia. Human research particularly underscored the involvement of two OXTR single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs53576, rs2254298) with fewer studies focusing on other OXTR (rs7632287, rs1042778, rs2268494, rs2268490), OXT (rs2740210, rs4813627, rs4813625), and CD38 (rs3796863, rs6449197) single nucleotide polymorphisms. Overall, studies provide evidence for the involvement of OT-pathway genes in human social functions but also suggest that factors such as gender, culture, and early environment often confound attempts to replicate first findings. We conclude by discussing epigenetics, conceptual implications within an evolutionary perspective, and future directions, especially the need to refine phenotypes, carefully characterize early environments, and integrate observations of social behavior across ecological contexts.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int J Environ Res Public Health
                Journal ID (publisher-id): ijerph
                Title: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
                Publisher: MDPI
                ISSN (Print): 1661-7827
                ISSN (Electronic): 1660-4601
                Publication date (Electronic): 31 October 2019
                Publication date (Print): November 2019
                Volume: 16
                Issue: 21
                Electronic Location Identifier: 4224
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, 50-529 Wrocław, Poland; agata.groyecka@ 123456gmail.com (A.G.); 264699@ 123456uwr.edu.pl (M.K.); weronikalech93@ 123456gmail.com (W.L.); sylwia.samorek@ 123456gmail.com (S.S.); kasia.stachowska@ 123456gmail.com (K.S.); klaudiastorky@ 123456gmail.com (K.B.); ola.pulcer@ 123456gmail.com (A.P.); sorokowska@ 123456gmail.com (A.S.); marta7kowal@ 123456gmail.com (M.K.)
                [2 ]Department of Human Biology, University of Wrocław, 50-529 Wrocław, Poland; agnieszka.zelazniewicz@ 123456uwr.edu.pl (A.Ż.); judyta.nowak@ 123456uwr.edu.pl (J.N.)
                Author notes
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9050-1471
                Article
                Publisher ID: ijerph-16-04224
                DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16214224
                PMC ID: 6861983
                PubMed ID: 31683520
                SO-VID: 860ea22e-c02d-4f21-b807-9d147d0cb07a
                Copyright © © 2019 by the authors.
                License:

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                Date received : 17 September 2019
                Date accepted : 29 October 2019
                Categories
                Subject: Article

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health
                Keywords: love,sex hormones,fecundity,luteinizing hormone (lh),follicle-stimulating hormone (fsh),testosterone (t)
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health
                Keywords: love, sex hormones, fecundity, luteinizing hormone (lh), follicle-stimulating hormone (fsh), testosterone (t)

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