AUTHOR=Takahashi Kayo , Mizuno Kei , Sasaki Akihiro T. , Wada Yasuhiro , Tanaka Masaaki , Ishii Akira , Tajima Kanako , Tsuyuguchi Naohiro , Watanabe Kyosuke , Zeki Semir , Watanabe Yasuyoshi TITLE=Imaging the passionate stage of romantic love by dopamine dynamics JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience VOLUME=9 YEAR=2015 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00191 DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2015.00191 ISSN=1662-5161 ABSTRACT=

Using [11C]raclopride, a dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonist, we undertook a positron emission tomography (PET) study to investigate the involvement of the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system when subjects viewed the pictures of partners to whom they were romantically attached. Ten subjects viewed pictures of their romantic partners and, as a control, of friends of the same sex for whom they had neutral feelings during the PET study. We administered [11C]raclopride to subjects using a timing for injecting the antagonist which had been determined in previous studies to be optimal for detecting increases in the amount of dopamine released by stimulation. The results demonstrated statistically significant activation of the dopaminergic system in two regions, the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and medial prefrontal cortex, the former of which has been strongly implicated in a variety of rewarding experiences, including that of beauty and love. A positive correlation was obtained in mOFC between excitement levels and dopaminergic activation only in the love but not in the control condition.