At the University of California- Irvine, a group of researchers has recently made an interesting discovery. Daniele Piomelli and his colleagues found links between Oxytocin and Anandamide, Medical News Today reported.
Anandamide is a chemical that acts on certain receptors in the brain. The Sanskrit word actually means joy, bliss, delight. It's the endocannabinoid that takes care of elevating motivation and happines. Endocannabinoids, by the way, are a group of chemicals which share the same receptors as the active ingredient in cannabinoids, THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol. These are often associated with mood, appetite, memory and even pain sensation.
Piomelli, the founding director of Drug Discovery and Development Department at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, Italy and his team of researchers calculated levels of anandamide in mice that had either been allowed to be with each other or kept in isolation. The team observed that mice that were allowed to interact with other mice showed an elevated anandamide levels in the brain structure known as the nucleus accumbens. This is area of the brain forms part of the basal ganglia and is believed to play an important function in a host of responses and emotions, including motivation, pleasure and reward.
This rise in anandamide was found to build up the desire to socialize. However, when the scientists prevented the cannabinoid receptors from binding to them, this reinforcement disappeared. This finding means that oxytocin's social bonding effect is brought about by the release of anandamide.
Oxytocin is a hormone known to be involved in social interaction. The neurotransmitter has been coined as the "hug hormone," "moral molecule" and the "chemical cuddle" because of its role in love, female reproductive functions and social bonding. To add fuel to the fire, researchers conducted another step in the experiment where they delayed the degradation of anandamide so that it can stay active longer than it normally does. They observed that the experimental animals behaved as if they enjoyed spending time with other animals more than the group receiving placebo substances.
Oxytocin, in previous research has been proven to make people feel more extroverted; this ability has propelled researchers to consider its potential application in the treatment of autism. Our findings revealed a certain possibility that drugs that can block the degradation of anandamide, which are currently being tested for different anxiety disorders, could give an increase in the brain's own oxytocin and help people with autism socialize more.
