Oxytocin is hot. There are now hundreds of studies looking at the effect of this hormone on the human brain.
A dose of oxytocin, delivered in the form of a nasal spray, can make people nicer towards the ostracised, reduce marijuana cravings, and 'enhance brain function' in autistic children - and much more, if you believe it. But not everyone does. Some doubt that nasal oxytocin even gets into the brain at all. Oxytocin is a peptide molecule, which means it can't cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the central nervous system. Animal studies suggest that intranasal oxytocin might nonetheless get to the brain via some other route, perhaps along a nerve. But no-one has directly tested this in humans. Now a new paper from Bonn, Germany claims to have put the fears to rest:
They ...
