PMID- 28580708
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20180423
LR  - 20231019
IS  - 1097-0193 (Electronic)
IS  - 1065-9471 (Print)
IS  - 1065-9471 (Linking)
VI  - 38
IP  - 9
DP  - 2017 Sep
TI  - How the brain codes intimacy: The neurobiological substrates of romantic touch.
PG  - 4525-4534
LID - 10.1002/hbm.23679 [doi]
AB  - Humans belong to a minority of mammalian species that exhibit monogamous 
      pair-bonds, thereby enabling biparental care of offspring. The high reward value 
      of interpersonal closeness and touch in couples is a key proximate mechanism 
      facilitating the maintenance of enduring romantic bonds. However, surprisingly, 
      the neurobiological underpinnings mediating the unique experience of a romantic 
      partner's touch remain unknown. In this randomized placebo (PLC)-controlled, 
      between-group, pharmacofunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study 
      involving 192 healthy volunteers (96 heterosexual couples), we intranasally 
      administered 24 IU of the hypothalamic peptide oxytocin (OXT) to either the man 
      or the woman. Subsequently, we scanned the subjects while they assumed that they 
      were being touched by their romantic partners or by an unfamiliar person of the 
      opposite sex, although in reality an identical pattern of touch was always given 
      by the same experimenter. Our results show that intranasal OXT compared to PLC 
      selectively enhanced the subjective pleasantness of the partner's touch. 
      Importantly, intranasal OXT selectively increased responses to partner touch in 
      the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and anterior cingulate cortex. Under OXT, NAcc 
      activations to partner touch positively correlated with the subjects' evaluation 
      of their relationship quality. Collectively, our results suggest that OXT may 
      contribute to the maintenance of monogamous relationships in humans by 
      concomitantly increasing the reward value of partner touch and diminishing the 
      hedonic quality of stranger touch. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4525-4534, 2017. (c) 2017 
      Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
CI  - (c) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
FAU - Kreuder, Ann-Kathrin
AU  - Kreuder AK
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
AD  - Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
FAU - Scheele, Dirk
AU  - Scheele D
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-7613-0376
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
AD  - Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
FAU - Wassermann, Lea
AU  - Wassermann L
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
AD  - Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
FAU - Wollseifer, Michael
AU  - Wollseifer M
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
AD  - Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
FAU - Stoffel-Wagner, Birgit
AU  - Stoffel-Wagner B
AD  - Department of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Bonn, 
      Bonn, 53127, Germany.
FAU - Lee, Mary R
AU  - Lee MR
AD  - Section on Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology, National 
      Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and National Institute on Drug Abuse, 
      Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-1108.
FAU - Hennig, Juergen
AU  - Hennig J
AD  - Division of Personality Psychology and Individual Differences, University of 
      Giessen, Giessen, 35394, Germany.
FAU - Maier, Wolfgang
AU  - Maier W
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
AD  - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, 53175, Germany.
FAU - Hurlemann, Rene
AU  - Hurlemann R
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
AD  - Division of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, 53105, Germany.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Randomized Controlled Trial
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20170605
PL  - United States
TA  - Hum Brain Mapp
JT  - Human brain mapping
JID - 9419065
RN  - 0 (Psychotropic Drugs)
RN  - 50-56-6 (Oxytocin)
SB  - IM
MH  - Administration, Intranasal
MH  - Adult
MH  - Brain/diagnostic imaging/drug effects/*physiology
MH  - Brain Mapping
MH  - Double-Blind Method
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
MH  - Male
MH  - Oxytocin/*administration & dosage
MH  - Psychotropic Drugs/*administration & dosage
MH  - Sexual Behavior
MH  - *Sexual Partners/psychology
MH  - Social Perception
MH  - Touch Perception/drug effects/*physiology
PMC - PMC6867116
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - fMRI
OT  - fidelity
OT  - oxytocin
OT  - pair-bonding
OT  - touch
EDAT- 2017/06/06 06:00
MHDA- 2018/04/24 06:00
PMCR- 2017/06/05
CRDT- 2017/06/06 06:00
PHST- 2017/02/22 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2017/05/22 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2017/05/23 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2017/06/06 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2018/04/24 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2017/06/06 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2017/06/05 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - HBM23679 [pii]
AID - 10.1002/hbm.23679 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Hum Brain Mapp. 2017 Sep;38(9):4525-4534. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23679. Epub 2017 Jun 
      5.