跳至主要内容

Current Evidence of the Monoaminergic Regulation of Romantic Love and Relationship

Sexual response cycle refers to the sequence of physical and emotional changes that occur as a person becomes sexually aroused and participates in sexually stimulating activities. It has been well known that the sexual response cycle can be modulated by a variety of external factors, such as prescriptions and medical disorders, through a modification of the central monoamines. The most common one is the use of antidepressants or antipsychotics which increases the synaptic serotonin (5HT) level or decreases the activity of dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) at the prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex. Romantic love evolves and serves for sexual attraction, bonding and attachment. Although the circuit of romantic love has recently been delineated, the biological impact on romantic love is barely mentioned in human, however. 

In thus study, a comprehensive literature review was completed to elucidate the role of central monoamines, including dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, epinephrine, melatonin and histamine, for the romantic love and relationship in human. The results showed that the central circuit of romantic love included the mesolimbic and mesocortical tract and their extensions widely distributed in cortical, subcortical and brainstem structures. The activation of brain foci progressively decreased along with the romantic relationship in many areas, including the bilateral caudate and ventral tegmentum area without change of passionate love. Hyperactivity of dopamine and serotonin was suggested at the synaptic level for romantic love in lovers, probably through an inhibition of transporters or increase of terminal release. Romantic love can be modulated by antidepressants or recreational drugs. Polymorphism of dopamine and serotonin receptor related to the romantic relationship. The effect of other monoamines was barely mentioned. 

In conclusion, romantic love is vulnerable for secondary effect, such as drugs which modulate the dopamine and serotonin, in human. Romantic relationship is also impacted by the polymorphism of monoamine receptors. Therefore, the biological effect is not limited to sexual response cycle but also the romantic love and relationship. Further investigation is warranted for understanding the secondary effect in romantic love for romantic dissolution or divorce.

Article by Wei-Hsi Chen, et al, from Taiwan.

Full access: http://mrw.so/10DbAv
Image by Little Nora, from Flickr-cc.



评论

发表评论

此博客中的热门博文

Identifying Sustainable Practices for Tapping and Sap Collection from Birch Trees

Tapping and collecting sap from birch trees ( Betula , sp.) for the production of beverages and syrup is gaining increased levels of interest. Although the practice of tapping birch trees and collecting sap has been ongoing for millennia across the world, there remain some critical data needed in order to make science-based decisions about the production practices required to optimize yields and ensure sustainable outcomes are achieved in the long-term. In this study, experiments were conducted to determine two pieces of information essential to identify practices necessary to ensure tapping trees for birch sap collection were both sustainable and profitable—the selection of the time to initiate tapping birch trees to obtain maximum yields, and the volume of nonconductive wood (NCW) associated with taphole wounds in birch trees. The yields obtained from various timing treatments varied between sapflow seasons, but indicated that using test tapholes to choose the appropriate ti
发表评论
阅读全文

Incorporation of High-Altitude Balloon Experiment in High School Science Classrooms

High-altitude balloon is a balloon, filled usually with helium or hydrogen that ascends into an area called “near space” or stratosphere. The most common type of high-altitude balloons are weather balloons. Other purposes include use as a platform for experiments in the upper atmosphere. Modern balloons generally contain electronic equipment such as radio transmitters, cameras, or satellite navigation systems, such as GPS receivers. The mission of the High-Altitude Balloon Experiment (HABE) is to acquire supporting data, validate enabling technologies, and resolve critical acquisition, tracking, and pointing (ATP) and fire control issues in support of future space-based precision pointing experiments. The use of high-altitude balloons offers a relatively low-cost, low-vibration test platform, a recoverable and reusable payload, worldwide launch capability, and a 'near- space' emulation of the future space systems operational scenarios. More recently, several university
1 条评论
阅读全文

Esophageal Carcinogenesis

Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=50380#.VDy9v1fHRK0 Author(s)   Naoki Watanabe 1 , Masahito Shimizu 2 , Takahiro Kochi 2 , Yohei Shirakami 2 , Takuji Tanaka 1,3* Affiliation(s) 1 Department of Diagnostic Pathology (DDP) & Research Center of Diagnostic Pathology (RC-DiP), Gifu Municipal Hospital, Gifu, Japan . 2 Department of Internal Medicine/Gastroenterology, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu, Japan . 3 Department of Tumor Pathology, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu, Japan . ABSTRACT Esophageal cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer death and remains one of the least survivable cancers. Esophageal cancers show wide variations in incidence in different pop
发表评论
阅读全文