Tokyo - (AFP) - Oxytocin is known as the " love hormone " for its primary role in romantic relationships between couples and in the care mothers provide for their children, but a recent study conducted on prairie mice reconsidered its role.

The study showed that despite the removal of the receptors associated with this hormone, the prairie mice were still able to establish strong paired relationships, as well as the females continuing to carry and care for their young.

Mice are one of the rare mammalian species whose paired bonds last a lifetime, which makes them very suitable for studies of similar topics.

In previous studies, the rats, after being given a drug that stopped the secretion of the hormone oxytocin, became lonely, while the females were unable to produce milk for their young.

Psychiatrist Devanand Manuli and neurobiologist Nirau Shah worked differently in this study, creating genetically engineered wild rats in a way that deprived them of the presence of oxytocin receptors in their bodies.

The result came as a surprise to them, as the genetically modified mice did not face any problem in mating with other mice of the same kind that had not undergone any modification, while the modified female mice had no difficulty in caring for their young.

The test result was considered an indication that oxytocin is not the primary or sole driver of feelings associated with forming pairs or the care mothers provide to their children.

"Genetics has shown that there is no 'single point of disruption' for behaviors that are absolutely essential to the survival of a species," Devanand Manoli, an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco, told AFP.

On the other hand, the research proved that depriving one of the partners of the pair from oxytocin receptors recorded negative effects, according to the study, which was published Friday in the scientific journal "Neuron".

Genetically modified male mice that were mated to unmodified females did not show the violence that was usually recorded when they encountered other females.

And while the transgenic females were able to give birth to young and care for them, some of them gave birth to fewer young, and fewer of them survived, compared to the number of young females of unmodified mice.

In addition, the pups of the modified females weighed less than the pups of the unmodified rats, indicating that the pregnancies of the genetically modified mothers were not healthy enough.

The researchers noted that the experiment included only pairs with one limb modified and the other with a wild type, explaining that pairs consisting of exclusively modified mice could provide different results.

In any case, the study showed that the hormone oxytocin has a different role in various behaviors.

Animals that grew up without oxytocin receptors may have developed "other compensatory methods" that helped them mate and help their young develop, says Shah, the Stanford University professor.

The study indicated that oxytocin is only one of the genetic factors that control social behavior.

"I think our study shows that there are many ways that these very complex behaviors are regulated," Manoli said.

Oxytocin has been used in some cases to treat attachment disorders and other neurological and psychological conditions, but scientific information regarding its effectiveness is still limited.

Shah and Manoli said they hoped to find additional information about hormones and other receptors that play a role in mating and the mother's care of her children.

"These other methods may be used as new therapeutic targets," Manoli said.