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Query: UNIPROT:P01178 (oxytocin)
 15,767 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) are described here as a model system in which it is possible to examine, within the context of natural history, the proximate processes regulating the social and reproductive behaviors that characterize a monogamous social system. Neuropeptides, including oxytocin and vasopressin, and the adrenal glucocorticoid, corticosterone, have been implicated in the neural regulation of partner preferences, and in the male, vasopressin has been implicated in the induction of selective aggression toward strangers. We hypothesize here that interactions among oxytocin, vasopressin and glucocorticoids could provide substrates for dynamic changes in social and agonistic behaviors, including those required in the development and expression of monogamy. Results from research with voles suggest that the behaviors characteristics of monogamy, including social attachments and biparental care, may be modified by hormones during development and may be regulated by different mechanisms in males and females.
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PMID:Physiological substrates of mammalian monogamy: the prairie vole model. 763 May 84

Situations related to labor and delivery that may require drug therapy are discussed, and treatment options are reviewed. The goal of labor induction and augmentation at term is to facilitate vaginal delivery of a healthy infant. The primary uterine stimulant used for this purpose is oxytocin. Low-, intermediate-, and high-dose protocols have been reported; augmentation requires approximately half as much oxytocin as induction does. Mifepristone has also been used for labor induction. Prostaglandins are the primary agents used for cervical ripening, but oxytocin, relaxin, and mifepristone have also been used. Mechanical dilators are available for cervical dilation, which may be necessary when prostaglandins are contraindicated. Oxytocin is the drug of choice for preventing postpartum hemorrhage; if it is not effective, methylergonovine or carboprost may be used to control the hemorrhage. Labor induction during the midtrimester may be necessary because of obstetrical or medical complications or fetal death. These situations call for aggressive dosing of uterine stimulants (e.g., high-dose oxytocin, intravaginal dinoprostone suppositories, carboprost, mifepristone). Drug therapy may be required for labor induction or augmentation, cervical ripening or dilation, and prevention or control of postpartum hemorrhage. Oxytocin is the most commonly used agent for labor induction or augmentation and for prevention of postpartum hemorrhage; prostaglandins are frequently used for cervical ripening. Aggressive dosing of uterine stimulants is required when labor must be induced during the midtrimester.
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PMID:Drug therapy during labor and delivery. 784 4

In earlier studies performed on a group of women with gastrointestinal symptoms, significant positive correlations between the gastrointestinal hormone gastrin and anxiety, and a negative correlation with socialization were obtained. These and other relationships were tested on 33 healthy women. A comprehensive and concise statistical model was used for the analysis of correlations between, on one hand, the levels of oxytocin and the gastrointestinal hormones gastrin, cholecystokinin, somatostatin and insulin, and, on the other hand, personality traits. Almost all explained variance of the hormone levels could be referred to three personality trait factors, Anxiety, Aggressive non-conformity, and Detachment. The statistical explanation of the gastrin level variance was most successful, the three personality trait factors explaining 48% of this variance. Gastrin "increased" Anxiety while reducing Aggressive non-conformity and Detachment. A similar pattern for insulin was also reliable. Considering general trends, the negative correlations between all hormones and Detachment are interesting. Present data suggest that there is a psychoendocrinological antithesis to the fight-flight individual, characterized by high activity in the sympathoadrenal system: these contrasting persons, with high levels of the gastrointestinal hormones gastrin and insulin, tend to be warm and caring and non-aggressive--but often not free from anxiety. We do not think that the demonstrated associations between hormone levels and personality traits implicate a direct causal relationship. They rather may mirror the activity of centrally acting or hypothalamic control systems which influence both behavioural and endocrine profiles.
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PMID:The relationships between personality traits and plasma gastrin, cholecystokinin, somatostatin, insulin, and oxytocin levels in healthy women. 810 80

The neurohypophyseal peptide hormone oxytocin functions as a neuropeptide in several brain areas in addition to its role as a posterior pituitary hormone. Several studies have determined significant differences in patterns of oxytocin receptor binding in the brains of two closely related species of vole. One of the defining features of these two species is remarkably different reproductive behavior strategies. The prairie vole forms long-term monogamous relationships; the montane vole is polygamous. One potential measure of the formation of a pair bond in prairie voles is the development of intense aggressive behavior directed at male conspecifics following a mating bout. Oxytocin had little effect on aggressive behavior when administered before mating but had profound effects on the aggression of male prairie voles when administered after mating. Oxytocin had relatively modest effects on the behavior of montane voles, and neither the behavior nor the peptide effects were affected by mating experience. The data indicate that differences in peptide binding in these two species of vole may be functionally related to difference in social behavior.
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PMID:Oxytocin and complex social behavior: species comparisons. 812 69

Monogamous social organization is characterized by selective affiliation with a partner, high levels of paternal behaviour and, in many species, intense aggression towards strangers for defence of territory, nest and mate. Although much has been written about the evolutionary causes of monogamy, little is known about the proximate mechanisms for pair bonding in monogamous mammals. The prairie vole, Microtus ochrogaster, is a monogamous, biparental rodent which exhibits long-term pair bonds characterized by selective affiliation (partner preference) and aggression. Here we describe the rapid development of both selective aggression and partner preferences following mating in the male of this species. We hypothesized that either arginine-vasopressin (AVP) or oxytocin (OT), two nine-amino-acid neuropeptides with diverse forebrain projections, could mediate the development of selective aggression and affiliation. This hypothesis was based on the following observations: (1) monogamous and polygamous voles differ specifically in the distribution of forebrain AVP and OT receptors; (2) AVP innervation in the prairie vole brain is sexually dimorphic and important for paternal behaviour; (3) central AVP pathways have been previously implicated in territorial displays and social memory; and (4) central OT pathways have been previously implicated in affiliative behaviours. We now demonstrate that central AVP is both necessary and sufficient for selective aggression and partner preference formation, two critical features of pair bonding in the monogamous prairie vole.
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PMID:A role for central vasopressin in pair bonding in monogamous prairie voles. 841 8

Lactating female rats on the 3rd to 12th day postpartum are more aggressive towards an intruder male than are nonlactating females. In this study, maternal aggressive behavior was recorded by introducing a strange male in the territory of the female and her offspring, on the fifth, seventh, and ninth day postpartum. Electrolytic lesions of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) were performed on the fifth day postpartum. The results showed that the PVN lesion reduced the frequency and duration of attacks on the intruder. In addition, the lesion caused reduced weight gain in the pups compared to pups of the sham lesion group. The results suggest that PVN participates in the modulation of maternal aggression in rats. A possible role of oxytocin in that behavior is discussed.
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PMID:Lesion of hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus and maternal aggressive behavior in female rats. 877 39

The research presented at this conference, including a series of excellent posters from junior investigators, documents the pervasive importance of affiliation and other social behaviors. Affiliative behaviors interact with, but are distinct from reproductive and aggressive behaviors. Patterns of social behaviors tend to be more species-typical than the behaviors associated with reproduction or aggression. However, neural circuits necessary for approach or avoidance also are necessary for the expression of various types of affiliative behavior such as maternal behavior or pair-bond formation. Furthermore, candidate neurochemical systems have been identified that contribute to various types of affiliative behavior. For example, studies revealing new behavioral functions for steroid hormones of the adrenal axis, such as corticosterone, and neuropeptides, including the endorphins, oxytocin and vasopressin, extend our general knowledge of neurobiology; they may also lead to studies that expand our understanding of social behavior and the connections to systems that regulate emotions. The work represented in this volume also has important implications for the study of serious neuropsychiatric disorders. For example, episodes of certain of these disorders can be induced by social stressors; in other disorders, a marked decrease in affiliative behaviors is a prominent feature of the patients' difficulties. Furthermore, abnormalities in animal systems implicated in the neurobiology of affiliation (oxytocin, vasopressin, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system) have also been documented for major depression in humans. Animal models, such as those described at this conference, offer evolutionary perspectives, from which it is possible to extract general principles. At the same time, our understanding of the mechanistic and neurobiological substrates of both constructive and destructive social behaviors is increasing. At the conference, the evolutionary and mechanistic perspectives converged on the theme that studies of affiliative behaviors cannot be fully interpreted in isolation from other social behaviors; neither can they effectively be isolated from the biological and social contexts that shape their expression. Advances in this research area seem dependent on integrating experimental research across levels of analysis. Although this task is challenging, we are confident that an awareness of integrative principles can lead to new and important research opportunities.
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PMID:The integrative neurobiology of affiliation. Introduction. 907 40

For mammalian reproduction to succeed, self-defense and asociality must be subjugated to positive social behaviors, at least during birth, lactation, and sexual behavior. Perhaps the important task of regulating the interaction between social and agonistic behaviors is managed, in part, by interactions between two related neurochemical systems that incorporate oxytocin and vasopressin in their functions. The neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin participate in important reproductive functions, such as parturition and lactation, and homeostatic responses, including modulation of the adrenal axis. Recent evidence also implicates these hormones in social aspects of reproductive behaviors. For example, oxytocin is important for a variety of positive social behaviors, including the regulation of maternal-infant interactions. In adult animals, oxytocin may facilitate both social contact and selective social interactions associated with social attachment and pair bonding, and it participates in the regulation of parasympathetic functions. Vasopressin, in contrast, is associated with behaviors that might be broadly classified as "defensive" including enhanced arousal, attention, or vigilance, increased aggressive behavior, and a general increase in sympathetic functions. On the basis of the literature on the functions of these hormones and our own recent findings, we propose that dynamic interactions between oxytocin and vasopressin are components of a larger system which integrates the neuroendocrine and autonomic changes associated with mammalian social behaviors and the concurrent regulation of the stress axis. In addition, studies of lactating females provide a valuable model for understanding the more general neuroendocrinology of the stress axis. Peptide hormones, including oxytocin and vasopressin, do not readily cross the blood-brain barrier and must be administered centrally (i.c.v.) to reach the brain. Nasal sprays have been used to promote milk let down and have been used in some behavioral studies, but the extent to which such compounds reach the brain is not known. Therefore, virtually nothing is known regarding the effects in humans of centrally administered oxytocin. The study of human lactation, in conjunction with animal research, provides an opportunity to begin to develop viable hypotheses regarding the behavioral effects of oxytocin.
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PMID:Integrative functions of lactational hormones in social behavior and stress management. 907 49

The rat maternal behavior consists of different pup-caring activities, such as retrieving, licking, and crouching. Mothers also build a nest, consume more food, are more aggressive, and show less fear behavior than in other stages of the reproductive cycle. It has been reported that oxytocin (OT) and the milk-ejection pathway could be involved in modulating maternal behavior. The paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus forms part of the milk-ejection pathway and is also the major source of OT release in the brain. Kainic acid (KA) lesions (0.5 microg/0.5 microl) in the PVN performed on day 2 after parturition, affected retrieving behavior in the mother rat and produced a decrease in pups' weight gain. Because KA destroys only cell bodies, the changes that we observed could be due to the local destruction of neurons, rather than that of the fibers of passage. No alteration was observed in other components of the pup-caring activities, food intake, aggressive behavior, and fear in the lesioned mothers.
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PMID:Maternal behavior in rats with kainic acid-induced lesions of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus. 914 52

Oxytocin (OT) has been reported to mediate aggressive and affiliative behaviours in several species. The behavioural role of OT has been established with physiological manipulations that potentially affected blood pressure, which may have indirectly affected the behaviours under study. To provide converging evidence of the physiological role of OT in aggressive behavior, wild type (WT), heterozygous (OT-/+), and homozygous (OT-/-) mutant mice were tested in two aggression paradigms. In general, there was no significant difference in aggressiveness between WT and OT-/+ mice. However, there were significant reductions in the duration of aggressive behaviors among OT-/- animals, especially in agonistic encounters within neutral arenas. The OT-/- mice did not exhibit any sensorimotor deficits or display any altered general anxiety levels that may have accounted for the observed reduction in aggressive behavior. These data indicate that aggression is mediated in part by OT in mice and that increased aggressiveness is not an obligatory phenotypic result of targeted genetic disruption of any gene.
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PMID:Reduced aggressive behaviour in mice with targeted disruption of the oxytocin gene. 918 90


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