Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Dec:143:104948.
doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104948. Epub 2022 Nov 5.

Sex, love and oxytocin: Two metaphors and a molecule

C Sue Carter  1
Affiliations
Review

Sex, love and oxytocin: Two metaphors and a molecule

C Sue Carter. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Dozens of studies, most conducted in the last four decades, have implicated oxytocin, as well as vasopressin and their receptors, in processes that mediate selective sociality and the consequences of early experience. Oxytocin is critical for the capacity to experience emotional safety and healthy sexuality. Oxytocin also plays a central role in almost every aspect of physical and mental health, including the coordination of sociality and loving relationships with physiological reactions to challenges across the lifespan. Species, including prairie voles, that share with humans the capacity for selective social bonds have been a particularly rich source of insights into the behavioral importance of peptides. The purpose of this historical review is to describe the discovery of a central role for oxytocin in behavioral interactions associated with love, and in the capacity to use sociality to anticipate and cope with challenges across the lifespan - a process that here is called "sociostasis."

Keywords: Attachment; History; Love; Oxytocin; Sex; Vasopressin; Voles.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicts of interest None.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abdelwahab LA, Galal OO, Abd El-Rahman SS, El-Brairy AI, Khattab MM, & El-Khatib AS (2021). Targeting the oxytocin system to ameliorate early life depressive-like behaviors in maternally-separated rats. Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin. 10.1248/bpb.b21-00247 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ainsworth MDS (1969). Object Relations, Dependency, and Attachment: A Theoretical Review of the Infant-Mother Relationship. Child Development, 40(4), 969–1025. 10.2307/1127008 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Altemus M, Deuster PA, Galliven E, Carter CS, & Gold PW (1995). Suppression of hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to stress in lactating women. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 80(10), 2954–2959. 10.1210/jcem.80.10.7559880 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Altemus M, Redwine LS, Leong YM, Frye CA, Porges SW, & Carter CS (2001). Responses to laboratory psychosocial stress in postpartum women. Psychosom Med, 63(5), 814–821. - PubMed
    1. Amico JA, Miedlar JA, Cai H-M, & Vollmer RR (2008). Oxytocin knockout mice: A model for studying stress-related and ingestive behaviours. Progress in Brain Research, 170, 53–64. 10.1016/S0079-6123(08)00405-6 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types