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A molecule of passionate love?
Nov. 30,
2005
Special to World Science
Scientists say they have identified a molecule linked to the first flames of romantic love.
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Happy Lovers by Jean-Honore Fragonard
(1732-1806)
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The molecule becomes more concentrated in the
bloodstream during the early stages of romance, the researchers said. The
concentrations die down to normal by about one year later.
The scientists, with the University of Pavia in Pavia, Italy, published their findings in the Nov. 9 issue of the research journal
Psychoneuroendocrinology.
“In view of the complexity of a sentiment like love, it would not be surprising that a diversity of biochemical mechanisms are involved,” the researchers wrote.
But one of them, they said, appears to be this molecule, called nerve growth factor, or NGF.
In a study with 58 participants, they found that its level was significantly higher in the subjects in the early phases of love than in either the subjects with a long-lasting relationship or the subjects with no relationship, they wrote.
“In 39 subjects in love who—after 12-24 months—maintained the same relationship but were no longer in the same mental state to which they had referred during the initial evaluation, plasma
[blood] NGF levels decreased and became indistinguishable” from those of other
participants, they wrote.
“Taken together, these findings suggest that some behavioural and/or psychological features associated with falling in love could be related to raised NGF levels in the bloodstream.”
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