The hormone that increases the fidelity of men

Simple intranasal oxytocin can change the behavior of men in front of a seductive woman. German researchers from the University of Bonn have they found an artificial way to make the most faithful men? They have all shown that if the nasal spray administration of a hormone, oxytocin, could change the behavior of volunteers placed in the presence of an attractive woman. "Of course, a rise in oxytocin rate does not guarantee the fidelity of his partner, says Le Figaro Dr. Dirk Scheele, principal investigator of the study. But it seems to keep men away from an unknown attractive at first. " 
It is now accepted that this molecule sometimes called "the hormone of attachment" strengthens the bonds that tie: the rate of oxytocin secreted by the body increases, for example when you fall in love or that one becomes parent. "The underlying mechanism is not fully known, but it is likely that sexuality and intimate contacts contribute," says Dr. Scheele. The experience in Germany whose results were published in the Journal of Neuroscience 14 November was to approach an attractive woman a voluntary still to see how far "comfortable for him," he asked s' stop. The process was repeated in the other direction, voluntary approaching the woman to have reached its distance comfort. Multiple combinations have been tested since the 57 men about 25 years, all heterosexual, could both be singles and pairs and did not know whether they were administered oxytocin or placebo (inactive) before the experiment. Men made more "prudent" 
Thanks to this ingenious protocol, researchers have been some surprises. First, they discovered that all men tended to choose the same distance comfort (around 55 cm) with the seductive woman, who is also the gap before a man is a sign that a "social" distance and not a particular intimacy area. One exception: men already couple who received oxytocin "preferred", without realizing it, take an extra margin of about 15 cm. As if oxytocin had made more "prudent". Unconscious mechanism since all the volunteers attributed the same coefficient of seduction women experience when questioned later. "None of our volunteers had met the woman before demonstrating that oxytocin expands space as staff (in which only lets the intimate, Ed) in the presence of an attractive unknown," says Dirk Scheele. In their article, German researchers do not forget the practical implications of their discovery. "Given the lack of differences between single men and couples in the placebo group, it is clear that that manifests the potential effect of increasing fidelity of oxytocin, their female partners must obtain his release endogenous (the body, Ed) immediately before the men are not subjected to a situation where they will meet other women, "they explain. But accuracy is important because one of the ways to naturally stimulate the production-ephemeral-oxytocin in the brain is ... to have an orgasm. "The mere presence of the partner near or being touched by another may also suffice," note the authors, however. But why German researchers have they not conducted the same study with women volunteers? Nothing sexist in the process, but more complicated to implement protocols. "We started by men, says Dr. Scheele, because with women there is a risk of error if the woman is pregnant and also because of changes in endogenous levels of oxytocin in terms of cycle time menstrual ".