Scientists at the University of Queensland hope to treat conditions such as anxiety and schizophrenia with a modified version of the hormone oxytocin - otherwise known as the ‘love hormone’ or 'orgasm hormone'.
Released during lactation, orgasms or just during skin-to-skin contact, oxytocin appears to strengthen human bonds, create trust and reduce social anxiety. Doctors also use the hormone to induce labour in pregnant women. But potentially life-threatening side effects of the hormone include cardiovascular problems and uterine ruptures when patients are given extra doses of the hormone.
So a team of scientists, led by Markus Muttenthaler and Asa Andersson, decided to create a modified version of the hormone without the dreaded side effects, and last week they appeared to have struck gold.
In their study which was published in the journal Science SignallingScience Signalling*, *the research team 'potently reversed social fear in mice' by giving them the altered hormone. They also tested the new compound on human heart cells and found it did not cause the same health complications as unaltered oxytocin.
Other scientists have welcomed the development. Dr Alexis Bailey, a neuropharmacologist at St George’s University of London was one such scientist, saying: 'as a researcher specialising in oxytocin and mental health, I welcome the development of selective oxytocin receptor agonist.'
The research team's promising creation needs to be tested on humans rather than individual tests in order to be used in medicine, but there are hopes that the hormone could be used to treat a variety of mental illnesses including anxiety, depression, addiction, anorexia and schizophrenia.
Modified oxytocin would be a very welcome new medication for doctors and mental health practices as mental illness becomes increasingly common, with the number of people reporting that they have a mental illness increasing and up to two-thirds of Britons claiming that they have had a mental illness at some point in their lives.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.