Romantic love is the catalyst behind the spread of the human life. The neurobiology of love embraces the hypothesis that what we call "romantic attachment" or "romantic love" may be at least in part the expression of biological factors. A corollary of this hypothesis states that it is possible to learn much about the nature of human love by studying the molecules involved in the expression of social and affiliative behaviours. Under this theoretical framework, we have investigated the changes in plasma neurotrophin levels in subjects with early stage romantic love. A positive association between the intensity of early romantic feelings and serum levels of nerve growth factor (NGF) has been identified. These findings link love with biologically relevant pathways for neuron survival and illuminate the biochemical correlates of such a complex feeling that so deeply affects our own lives. The progresses in the neurobiology of love suggest that this kind of research may open a new window onto our understanding of the very nature of human romantic bonding.

中文翻译：

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NGF和浪漫的爱情。

浪漫的爱情是人类生活传播的催化剂。爱的神经生物学包含这样一个假设，即我们所谓的“浪漫依恋”或“浪漫爱”可能至少部分是生物学因素的表达。该假设的推论指出，有可能通过研究参与社交和亲和行为表达的分子来了解有关人类爱情本质的更多信息。在此理论框架下，我们研究了早期恋爱对象血浆中神经营养素水平的变化。早期恋情的强度与神经生长因子（NGF）的血清水平之间存在正相关关系。这些发现将爱与神经元存活的生物学相关途径联系起来，阐明了这种复杂感觉的生物化学相关性，从而深深地影响着我们自己的生活。爱情的神经生物学的进展表明，这种研究可能会为我们对人类浪漫关系本质的理解打开新的窗口。