ICYMI: Love Conquers Experiment: Prairie Voles Born Without Oxytocin Receptors Still Pair Bond, Upending Decades Of Dogma

Big Picture: So the connection between oxytocin and pair bonding may not be as cut-and-dry as previously believed. There may be a couple explanations for this.

It is possible that oxytocin has more than one hormone receptor it can bind to, which is something other studies have previously suggested.

Or — more radically — when oxytocin, lacking its normal receptors, became more or less defunct, that in turn forced other parts of the brain to adapt and rewire to make up for its absence. This would make sense from an evolutionary standpoint as the prairie vole survival depends on pair bonding. 

In this latest study, the oxytocin receptor was removed before birth by gene editing, whereas previous experiments had blocked the receptors in adult animals. Like with love, it could be a matter of timing.

Read More: Scientists Tried to Break Cuddling. Instead, They Broke 30 Years of Research. The Atlantic

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