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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> All of the voles were subjected to brief stress tests, such as a swimming challenge, or being placed in a maze.
"The ones who were [still] with a partner, or had just been separated from a sibling so they never formed a romantic bond in the first place, actively avoided the aversive or stressful situation," Young noted.
But what about male voles who had been recently separated from a longtime female partner?
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These voles "basically were passive -- they gave up," Young said. "I would be hesitant to say that these animals were depressed, but their behavior is reminiscent of what you would see in a depressed person."
Examination of the brains of the lovesick voles revealed heightened activity of a chemical messenger called corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) in an area of the hypothalamus, a center for emotions in the brain.
When the researchers administered a drug that blocked CRF activity, voles who'd been separated from their mate began to perform just as vigorously in the stress tests as all the other voles tested. It seemed the drug "switched off" the mechanism -- and their lovesickness, as well.
Young's team said it's important to note that CRF activity kicked in only when the vole was separated from a longtime female partner, not a sibling companion.
That suggests a neurological mechanism that pushes monogamous males and females back together.
"Separating, you experience an aversive reaction. And you are driven to go back to the partner to alleviate that," Young said. "Maybe that plays an important role in maintaining relationships."
While the study is aimed at better understanding how the brain reacts to partner loss, the notion of a pharmaceutical fix for lovesickness isn't out of the question, experts said.
Drugs that suppress CRF "in some studies have been shown to function as antidepressants," noted Hasse Walum, a researcher at Sweden's Karolinska Institute who co-authored the bonding gene study.
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