Oxytocin, Vasopressin and Sexual Activity
Aylin Kayaaltı1, Oytun Erbaş1,2
1ERBAS Institute of Experimental Medicine, Illinois, USA & Gebze, Turkey
2Department of Physiology, Medical Faculty of Demiroğlu Bilim University, Istanbul, Turkey
Keywords: Behavior, oxytocin, sexual activity, vasopressin
Abstract
Hormones regulate our body’s functions, emotions, or behaviors. Two of these regulators are Oxytocin (OXT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) or antidiuretic hormone (ADH). They are produced by the hypothalamus and secured by the pituitary gland. It is known like OXT is a feminine hormone, but it has lots of effects on males, too. It has roles in psychology and behaviors including sexual and social behavior, sexual activity or arousal, paternal and maternal feelings, or reproductive system. Due to some of these effects, it’s known as the ‘love hormone’. On the other hand, AVP has roles on kidneys or retaining osmolality but beyond them, on social choices, fidelity, pair bonds, and aggression. Furthermore, there is an interaction between them, and they generally control each other’s functions. Their secretion amount changes during lots of situations such as hugging, kissing, or sexual activity. These changes may lead us to decide, love, or hate. In this article, the conception of social and sexual behavior, the impacts of OXT and AVP on emotions and behaviors, the relationship between OXT and AVP, the conception of sexual activity, and changes in OXT and AVP secretion during sexual activity were discussed.
Cite this article as: Kayaaltı A, Erbaş O. Oxytocin, Vasopressin and Sexual Activity. JEB Med Sci 2021;2(2):93-99.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.