ArticlePloS one2015
Variation in prolactin is related to variation in sexual behavior and contact affiliation.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Emerging Role of Prolactin as a Biomarker for Reproduction, Health, and Welfare in Wildlife Species: Elephants as a Model.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Stress, Well-Being, and Reproduction in Wildlife.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Concerning the circadian rhythms of prolactin, its secretion timing, and regulation of the affiliative mind.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
- Prolactin and oxytocin: potential targets for migraine treatment.The journal of headache and pain · 2023Review
- Primate Sex and Its Role in Pleasure, Dominance and Communication.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Socially Induced Infertility in Naked and Damaraland Mole-Rats: A Tale of Two Mechanisms of Social Suppression.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Birth, love, and fear: Physiological networks from pregnancy to parenthood.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Review
- Nonhuman Primate Paternal Care: Species and Individual Differences in Behavior and Mechanisms.Advances in neurobiology · 2022Article
- Neuropeptidergic and Neuroendocrine Systems Underlying Eusociality and the Concomitant Social Regulation of Reproduction in Naked Mole-Rats: A Comparative Approach.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2021Article
- Wild mice with different social network sizes vary in brain gene expression.BMC genomics · 2020Article
- Evidence for contrasting roles for prolactin in eusocial naked mole-rats,Biology letters · 2018Article
- Prosocial effects of prolactin in male rats: Social recognition, social approach and social learning.Hormones and behavior · 2017Article
- Neuroendocrine control in social relationships in non-human primates: Field based evidence.Hormones and behavior · 2017Review
- Hormonal stimulation and paternal experience influence responsiveness to infant distress vocalizations by adult male common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus.Hormones and behavior · 2016Article
- The role of orgasm in the development and shaping of partner preferences.Socioaffective neuroscience & psychology · 2016Article
- Evolving the neuroendocrine physiology of human and primate cooperation and collective action.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2015Review
- Social Monogamy in Nonhuman Primates: Phylogeny, Phenotype, and Physiology.Journal of sex researchReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Prolactin is associated with both maternal and paternal care and appears important in developing a bond between parent and infant. In contrast with oxytocin, another hormone important in infant care, there is scant information on the role of prolactin in maintaining adult heterosexual relationships. We present here the first results demonstrating a relationship between prolactin levels and sexual and contact affiliation behavior in a pair-bonded species. We studied cotton-top tamarins, a socially-monogamous, cooperatively-breeding primate. We measured chronic urinary prolactin levels over a four week period to include the entire female ovulatory cycle and correlated prolactin levels in males and females with simultaneous measures of contact affiliation and sexual behavior. Current mothers who were no longer nursing displayed lower amounts of sexual behavior and proximity than non-breeding females and also had marginally lower levels of prolactin. The prolactin levels of males and females were similar within pairs, and variation in prolactin levels for both sexes was explained both by the amount of sexual behavior and contact affiliation. The results parallel a previous study that compared oxytocin levels with sociosexual behavior in the same species, and supports the hypothesis that both prolactin and oxytocin are involved in pair-bonding as well as in infant care.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.