A study led by a team at University of Virginia shows that early parental care might influence the development of oxytocin system in infants. Oxytocin is a hormone in the human nervous system that is associated with forming social relationship, care giving and other social behaviours. Through observing 101 mothers and their babies, the team finds that although there is no changes in the level of DNA methylation in the mothers, the babies' saliva samples show some different result.
This study finds that babies who experienced a higher level of involved play with their mothers show a decrease in methylation, which leads to the development of more oxytocin receptors. This result suggests that successful interaction between babies and their care givers at early developmental stage could have an impact on how the oxytocin receptors coding genes express themselves. It could influence the babies' social relationship development later in life.
Monica Cheung– March 30, 2020
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