Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-lrblm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T01:23:17.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Alteration of the platelet serotonin transporter in romantic love

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 1999

D. MARAZZITI ,
H. S. AKISKAL ,
A. ROSSI  and
G. B. CASSANO
D. MARAZZITI
Affiliation:
Dipartmento di Psichiatria, Neurobiologia, Farmacologia e Biotecnologie, University of Pisa, Italy; and University of California at San Diego, CA, USA
H. S. AKISKAL
Affiliation:
Dipartmento di Psichiatria, Neurobiologia, Farmacologia e Biotecnologie, University of Pisa, Italy; and University of California at San Diego, CA, USA
A. ROSSI
Affiliation:
Dipartmento di Psichiatria, Neurobiologia, Farmacologia e Biotecnologie, University of Pisa, Italy; and University of California at San Diego, CA, USA
G. B. CASSANO
Affiliation:
Dipartmento di Psichiatria, Neurobiologia, Farmacologia e Biotecnologie, University of Pisa, Italy; and University of California at San Diego, CA, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background. The evolutionary consequences of love are so important that there must be some long-established biological process regulating it. Recent findings suggest that the serotonin (5-HT) transporter might be linked to both neuroticism and sexual behaviour as well as to obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). The similarities between an overvalued idea, such as that typical of subjects in the early phase of a love relationship, and obsession, prompted us to explore the possibility that the two conditions might share alterations at the level of the 5-HT transporter.

Methods. Twenty subjects who had recently (within the previous 6 months) fallen in love, 20 unmedicated OCD patients and 20 normal controls, were included in the study. The 5-HT transporter was evaluated with the specific binding of 3H-paroxetine (3H-Par) to platelet membranes.

Results. The results showed that the density of 3H-Par binding sites was significantly lower in subjects who had recently fallen in love and in OCD patients than in controls.

Discussion. The main finding of the present study is that subjects who were in the early romantic phase of a love relationship were not different from OCD patients in terms of the density of the platelet 5-HT transporter, which proved to be significantly lower than in the normal controls. This would suggest common neurochemical changes involving the 5-HT system, linked to psychological dimensions shared by the two conditions, perhaps at an ideational level.

Type
Brief Communication
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , May 1999 , pp. 741 - 745
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)