Bonding with a mate changes brain chemistry

Working with mouse-like rodents called prairie voles, scientists have found that close monogamous relationships alter the chemistry of the brain...

Working with mouse-like rodents called prairie voles, scientists have found that close monogamous relationships alter the chemistry of the brain, fostering the release of a compound that builds loyalty, but also plays a role in depression during times of separation.

The scientists found that after four days away from their mates, male voles experienced changes in the emotional centre of their brains, causing them to become unresponsive and lethargic. When given a drug that blocked the changes, however, lonely voles emerged from their funk.
The same loyalty chemical is found in human brains, and scientists said the research could provide insight into treating human grief and separation.

8220;Whenever you form a pair bond, it changes your neurochemistry,8221; said Larry J. Young, a neuroscientist at Emory University and an author of the study. Experts noted, however, that human relationships are more complex than animal bonds and involve culture, socialisation and rational thought.

8220;When humans grieve they don8217;t just give up and sit like lumps,8221; George Bonanno, a psychologist at Columbia University8217;s Teachers College who studies the process of bereavement. 8220;They have purposeful behaviour even when they are feeling lousy.8221;

Still, Young said the experiment might help explain the longing people feel for partners who are absent or who die. The study might also shed light on why couples remain in relationships that are bad for them, he said.

Prairie voles, which are found in the wild through much of North America, are used to study monogamy because they are among the few animals that pair up like humans. Although the voles may occasionally stray from the nest, they eventually return to their lifelong partners to help raise litter after litter.

C. Sue Carter, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois-Chicago who works with voles, cautioned against anthropomorphising the animals, adding there is more than one way to interpret their behaviour. 8220;What humans call depression might be an adaptive strategy,8221; she said. The passive voles might simply be conserving their energy for more important things, she suggested, such as searching for a new mate.
_Denise Gellene, LATWP