---

• n  hormone secreted by the posterior pituitary gland (trade name Pitocin); stimulates contractions of the uterus and ejection of milk

• Released in the brain, oxytocin works in the blood, where it travels to tissues as distant as the uterus, as well as along nerve fibers, where it regulates body temperature .
• Some researchers also think of oxytocin as a cuddle chemical.
• Using injections of oxytocin as a surrogate for arousal, Swedish investigators have found that sores on the backs of lab rats heal twice as fast under the influence of the .

• Pitocin

News & Articles

---

• Oxytocin Nasal Spray Believed to Help Marriages Last
  As the divorce rate in America continues to look dismal, researchers are working on ways to keep couples together. One promising discovery is the intranasal "love hormone," which is a spray containing bonding hormone oxytocin. Once used, it is supposed to make couples feel as if they had just fallen in love again. A study done by Oxford looked at long-term issues in committed relationships ...
  June 13, 2013 - Opposing Views
• Could Nasal Spray 'Love Hormone' Help Save Your Marriage?
  Cupid’s arrow might just come in the form of a nasal spray. That’s the idea that researchers from the University of Oxford are exploring in a review of research that suggests a spray containing the hormone oxytocin may be the answer to living happily ever...
  June 13, 2013 - ABC News Blogs via Yahoo! News
• Researchers developing love drug
  (KTNV) -- Researchers say they have developed a happiness spray. The spray contains a hormone called oxytocin and researchers from the University of Oxford say a little spritz up the nose could improve people's mood.
  June 13, 2013 - KTNV Las Vegas

Quotes

---

• Dr Eric Keroack in National Review Online
  According to Amanda Schaffer, writing in Slate, Keroack said this: "People who have misused their sexual faculty and become bonded to multiple persons will diminish the power of oxytocin to maintain a permanent bond with an individual."
• Paul Zak in Times Online
  Oxytocin does not cure autism, but it does reduce the symptoms,said Zak. "So there is a reduction of anxiety in autistic patients, and the oxytocin can induce them to do things like make eye contact with other people and look at their...
• Elias Zerhouni in EurekAlert (press release)
  Studies in animals, pioneered by now NIMH director Dr. Thomas Insel, have shown that oxytocin plays a key role in complex emotional and social behaviors, such as attachment, social recognition and aggression,noted NIH Director Elias Zerhouni,...