An artificial version of the love hormone probably isnt the solution to our problems

If there’s one hormone most people know by name, it’s oxytocin (not to be confused with the opioid oxycontin) — the so-called “love hormone” that we’re told creates maternal love, better relationships, and all that is warm and fuzzy and good. Scientists have created an artificial version that lasts longer and is less likely to have negative health effects, but these fixes might not be the solution to the chemical’s biggest problems.

The scientists in today’s study engineered a tweaked version of oxytocin that’s more stable than the real thing, meaning it lasts longer, and tested it several ways. Synthetic oxytocin given to human uterine cells caused the cells to contract, just like the natural hormone is supposed to do. Rats treated with synthetic oxytocin after being taught to be afraid of a stimuli were less afraid than the untreated rats. And synthetic oxytocin didn’t have any effects on human heart cells, though the natural hormone did, suggesting that in a working human heart, the synthetic stuff might not cause the same complications.

Creating an artificial version of the hormone can help us better understand the original hormone and how it works, though it’s still unclear what the synthetic stuff would do in actual humans. But the authors aren’t doing this just to help us understand oxytocin. They think their hormone has promise for treating social problems, and this application still plays into the hype around oxytocin. As science journalist Ed Yong writes, the hype can be dangerous.

This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t do research on oxytocin, or that its positive effects are all false. It could well be that the benefits of any potential treatment would outweigh the downsides in certain cases. But before we get there, we need more rigorous research on how oxytocin works overall, not just any optimistic evaluation of the upsides.

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