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The Science Of Love (The Chemistry of Romance)
Chemistry of Love
Love Addiction and Monogamouse
Monogamous
Monogamouse Addicted to Love
Relax, Here's a Love Drug We Can All Use
WEEK OF LOVE / THE PHYSIOLOGY OF Love
WEEK OF LOVE / THE PHYSIOLOGY OF Love
Scientists Turn Up the Lights On Love
AUTISM & OXYTOCIN
MATING GAME
Paradox Of Our Times
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Love Addiction and 'Monogamouse'
Steve Farrar
Windsor Star, FINAL ED, P B1/Front
February 08, 1999
TEXT:
News
London, England - The tiny rodent has been nicknamed "monogamouse."
Scientists have investigated the chemistry of love and managed genetically to
engineer a mouse that stays faithful to one mate. The normally feckless rodent
became a more loyal lover after receiving a set of genes from a prairie vole,
which is renowned for its fidelity.
It suggests that a lifetime of dedication to one partner may be a matter of
having the right brain chemistry, which links love with addiction. The
scientists have found this is also true for one species of monogamous monkey and
for humankind, which might explain why some people irrationally remain in
destructive relationships.
Dr. Thomas Insel, who led the research team at Emory University in the U.S.,
said: "The results so far suggest love is simply a form of addiction that makes
some animals form these lifelong pair bonds.' He believes this may be true of
all the mammals that pursue lasting relationships -- about three per cent are
monogamous while the rest are happy to mate with whoever is available.
Insel's work has focused on the prairie vole, an American rodent that forms a
lifelong bond during its first sexual encounter. From that moment on, the voles
stand by one another and raise their young together. The male will aggressively
defend his mate from any perceived rival and will choose her above any other
available female. "They are so faithful that if you remove their long-term mate,
they
will not accept a new one -- 80 per cent of the time they continue to live as
widows and widowers," said Insel.
He discovered that two hormones --oxytocin, which plays a role in controlling
social behaviour, and vasopressin, which is linked with memory -- were released
inside the rodent's brain at the instant the
bond was made. By artificially altering the levels of these hormones, Insel
could make the vole fall in love without mating or leave it deaf to its natural
calling.
Such hormones are present in most animals, but in the monogamous ones they act
on parts of the brain that are linked with cravings and addiction. The
love-struck seem, in effect, to be addicted to
their partners. The team refused to discuss details of the "monogamouse" until
the research has been published by a scientific journal, but it is thought the
mouse was adapted by inserting vole genes into its DNA so that the areas of the
brain that interacted with the hormones were switched to addiction -- the mouse
could then "fall in love."
Insel said: "We know these same links are found in the human brain although we
do not know if there is individual variability between people." He added that
he did not believe that a "love potion" for humans could emerge from his
research, but thought it could help develop a treatment for autistic children
who have difficulty forming normal relationships with their parents.
Dr. David Nias, a clinical psychologist at London University, said that human
monogamy had probably evolved as a means of providing a stable home that was
vital for survival. But modern Don Juans could still claim to be giving in to
natural urges as Nias said most men still felt the desire to be promiscuous.
Copyright Windsor Star 1999
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