Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01178 (oxytocin)
 15,767 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Prenatal plus neonatal administration of methimazole (MMI), a procedure provoking marked hypothyroidism in rats, increased by about 100% the thymic content of oxytocin and severely (by approximately 80%) decreased the thymus weight, compared to euthyroid counterparts. Adult-onset, propylthiouracyl (PTU)-induced hypothyroidism, while provoking thymic involution, or thyroxine (T4) hyperthyroidism, did not affect oxytocin concentrations. Thymic involution and increases in thymus oxytoxin could also be obtained with repeated administration of the potent glucocorticoid dexamethasone. However, since corticosterone, unless subchronically injected at largely supraphysiological doses, was previously shown to have no influence on thymic parameters of young adult rats, a major involvement of the neonatal adrenal axis in oxytocin alterations could be excluded. It is suggested that the ontogenesis of thymic oxytocin production is under thyroid control.
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PMID:Effects of neonatal and adult thyroid dysfunction on thymic oxytocin. 212 6

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OXT) were measured simultaneously by radioimmunoassay in neurohypophyses of rats immediately before birth (fetal day 22) onward to day 50 of life. The neurohypophysial content of AVP exceeded that of OXT by factor 17 at fetal day 22, by 20 immediately post natum, and by 2 at day 21 of life, respectively. As compared to day 0, the content at day 21 is considerably higher (AVP 24 fold, OXT 270 fold). The poor correlation between neurohypophysial AVP and OXT content suggests the possibility of a different onto-genetic development of both neuropeptide systems. Both AVP and OXT were detected in pooled rat plasma at various postnatal stages. Hypo- and hyperthyroidism induced experimentally during gestation did not result in a significant change in neuropeptide content of fetal neural lobes.
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PMID:Levels of vasopressin and oxytocin in neurohypophysis and plasma of the postnatally developing rat and the influence of hypothyroidism on rat fetuses. 654 Jun 95

Neurophysin was detected immunohistochemically in the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system of Wistar rats not before fetal day 18. Formerly, neurophysin was identified on day 16 of intrauterine life using another breeding stock of Wistar rats, but the same immunohistochemical reagents. In pregnant rats, experimentally induced hypo/hyperthyroidism beginning with day 13 of gestation failed to show any evident influence on the first appearance of immunohistochemically detectable neurophysin during the fetal development. Otherwise, significant effects on fetal body growth and other external features as well as the fetal thyroid state and histochemically demonstrable thyroid peroxidase activity were shown. The influence of thiamazol on the fetal thyroid peroxidase points out a primary effect and indicates the permeability of the placenta to this antithyroid drug.
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PMID:Experimental hypo/hyperthyroidism in rats and the perinatal development of the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system in comparison with the thyroid gland state and external features. 668 62

This study investigated the influence of chronic hyperthyroidism on mammary function in lactating rats and the effects on their pups. Thyroxine-treated (10 microg per 100 g body weight per day; hyperthyroid (HT)) or vehicle-treated rats were mated 2 weeks after the start of treatment and killed with their litters on days 7, 14 and 21 of lactation. Serum concentrations of triiodothyronine (T(3)) and tetraiodothyronine (T(4)) increased in thyroxine-treated rats. In HT mothers, serum prolactin decreased on day 7 and day 14 of lactation, whereas insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and progesterone concentrations decreased, and corticosterone increased on day 7 of lactation. In HT pups, T(4) concentration increased on day 7 and day 14 of lactation, whereas T(3) increased only on day 14 of lactation, and growth hormone increased on day 7 of lactation. Mammary prolactin binding sites did not vary, but there was an increase in the binding sites in the liver on day 14 of lactation in thyroxine-treated rats. In an acute suckling experiment, thyroxine-treated rats released less oxytocin, growth hormone and prolactin and excreted less milk than did control rats. Mammary casein, lactose and total lipid concentrations in thyroxine-treated rats were similar to those of control rats on day 14 of lactation. Histological studies of the mammary glands showed an increased proportion of alveoli showing reduced or no lumina and cells with condensed nuclei on day 14 and day 21 of lactation; the TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling (TUNEL) test revealed an increase in apoptosis in alveolar cells on day 21 of lactation in thyroxine-treated rats. Expression of SGP-2, a gene expressed during mammary involution, increased in thyroxine-treated rats on day 14 and day 21 of lactation, whereas expression of insulin-like growth factor binding protein 5, a proapoptotic signal, was unchanged. Bcl-2, which promotes survival of mammary gland epithelial cells was unchanged, whereas expression of IGF-I, which also promotes survival of mammary gland epithelial cells, increased on day 21 of lactation in thyroxine-treated rats. These results indicate that thyroxine treatment produces some milk stasis as a result of impairments in suckling induced release of oxytocin that may initiate the first stage of mammary involution, increasing apoptosis in a gland that is otherwise actively producing and secreting milk.
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PMID:Hyperthyroidism and production of precocious involution in the mammary glands of lactating rats. 1241 8

The aim of the present investigations was to examine the effects of the states of hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism on vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) release under conditions of equilibrated water metabolism as well as of osmotic stimulation, brought about by the dehydration or hypertonic saline administration. The euhydrated and simultaneously hypothyroid rats showed decreased hypothalamic AVP and OT content and somewhat higher but not significant neurohypophysial AVP content. In these animals the raised OT (but not AVP) plasma level has been observed. In hyperthyroid rats drinking tap water ad libitum the neurohypophysial AVP and OT content significantly diminished; plasma OT concentration (but not AVP) was then elevated. The state of osmotic stimulation was the reason of different response of the hypothalamo-neurohypohysial system function in hypo- or hyperthyroid rats. Significant decreases of neurohypophysial AVP and OT content were found in both hypothyroid dehydrated as well as hypothyroid hypertonic saline-treatment rats as compared with hypothyroid euhydrated ones. On the contrary, in the state of hyperthyroidism AVP content in the neurohypophysis distinctly raised in dehydrated and salt-loaded rats; in these last neurohypophysial OT content increased as well. Plasma OT (but not AVP) distinctly diminished in hyperthyroid and simultaneously dehydrated or hypertonic saline injected rats in relation to hyperthyroid control subgroup. Data from the present study suggest that: 1). altered thyroid gland function affects vasopressin and oxytocin release from the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system in the state of equilibrated water metabolism; 2). the state of hypo- or hyperthyroidism modifies the response of AVP-ergic and OT-ergic neurons upon the osmoreceptors/osmodetectors stimulation. It may be supposed that OT-ergic neurons display greater than AVP-ergic neurons sensitivity upon the thyroid hormone influence.
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PMID:Vasopressin and oxytocin release and the thyroid function. 1521 63

Hormones regulate all aspects of male reproduction, from sperm production to sexual drive. Although emerging evidence from animal models and small clinical studies in humans clearly point to a role for several hormones in controlling the ejaculatory process, the exact endocrine mechanisms are unclear. Evidence shows that oxytocin is actively involved in regulating orgasm and ejaculation via peripheral, central and spinal mechanisms. Associations between delayed and premature ejaculation with hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, respectively, have also been extensively documented. Some models suggest that glucocorticoids are involved in the regulation of the ejaculatory reflex, but corresponding data from human studies are scant. Oestrogens regulate epididymal motility, whereas testosterone can affect the central and peripheral aspects of the ejaculatory process. Overall, the data of the endocrine system in regulating the ejaculatory reflex suggest that widely available endocrine therapies might be effective in treating sexual disorders in these men. Indeed, substantial evidence has documented that treatments of thyroid diseases are able to improve some ejaculatory difficulties.
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PMID:The hormonal control of ejaculation. 2286 1