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)

Early-life disruption of the parent-child relationship, for example, in the form of abuse, neglect or loss, dramatically increases risk for psychiatric, as well as certain medical, disorders in adulthood. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) plays a seminal role in mediating social affiliation, attachment, social support, maternal behavior and trust, as well as protection against stress and anxiety. We therefore examined central nervous system OT activity after early-life adversity in adult women. We measured OT concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collected from 22 medically healthy women, aged 18-45 years, categorized into those with none-mild versus those with moderate-severe exposure to various forms of childhood abuse or neglect. Exposure to maltreatment was associated with decreased CSF OT concentrations. A particularly strong effect was identified for emotional abuse. There were inverse associations between CSF OT concentrations and the number of exposure categories, the severity and duration of the abuse and current anxiety ratings. If replicated, the association of lower adult CSF OT levels with childhood trauma might indicate that alterations in central OT function may be involved in the adverse outcomes of childhood adversity.
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PMID:Lower CSF oxytocin concentrations in women with a history of childhood abuse. 1895 40

Recent evidence suggests that early life stress (ELS) changes stress reactivity via reduced resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) between amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. Oxytocin (OXT) modulates amygdala connectivity and attenuates responses to psychosocial stress, but its effect appears to be moderated by ELS. Here we first investigate the effect of ELS on amygdala-prefrontal rs-FC, and examine whether ELS-associated changes of rs-FC in this neural circuit predict its response to psychosocial stress. Secondly, we explore the joint effect of OXT and ELS on the amygdala-prefrontal circuit. Eighteen healthy young males participated in a resting-state fMRI study of OXT effects using a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, within-subject crossover design. We measured the rs-FC to bilateral amygdalae and subsequently assessed changes of state anxiety and prefrontal responses to psychosocial stress. Multiple linear regressions showed that ELS, specifically emotional abuse, predicted reduced rs-FC between the right amygdala and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), which in turn predicted elevated state anxiety after psychosocial stress. In subjects with lower ELS scores, stronger pgACC-amygdala rs-FC predicted stronger pgACC deactivation during the psychosocial stress task, and this rest-task interaction was attenuated by OXT. In subjects with higher ELS scores however, the rest-task interaction was altered and OXT showed no significant effect. These findings highlight that ELS reduces pgACC-amygdala rs-FC and alters how rs-FC of this circuit predicts its stress responsiveness. Such changes in pgACC-amygdala functional dynamics may underlie the altered sensitivity to the effects of OXT after ELS.
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PMID:Early life stress modulates amygdala-prefrontal functional connectivity: implications for oxytocin effects. 2486 97

Previous evidence shows that acute stress changes both amygdala activity and its connectivity with a distributed brain network. Early life stress (ELS), especially emotional abuse (EA), is associated with altered reactivity to psychosocial stress in adulthood and moderates or even reverses the stress-attenuating effect of oxytocin (OXT). The neural underpinnings of the interaction between ELS and OXT remain unclear, though. Therefore, we here investigate the joint effect of ELS and OXT on transient changes in amygdala-centered functional connectivity induced by acute psychosocial stress, using a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, within-subject crossover design. Psychophysiological interaction analysis in the placebo session revealed stress-induced increases in functional connectivity between amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, putamen, caudate and thalamus. Regression analysis showed that EA was positively associated with stress-induced changes in connectivity between amygdala and hippocampus. Moreover, hierarchical linear regression showed that this positive association between EA and stress-induced amygdala-hippocampal connectivity was moderated after the administration of intranasal OXT. Amygdala-hippocampal connectivity in the OXT session correlated negatively with cortisol stress responses. Our findings suggest that altered amygdala-hippocampal functional connectivity during psychosocial stress may have a crucial role in the altered sensitivity to OXT effects in individuals who have experienced EA in their childhood.
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PMID:Amygdala-Hippocampal Connectivity Changes During Acute Psychosocial Stress: Joint Effect of Early Life Stress and Oxytocin. 2592 2

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterised by symptoms associated with maladaptive fear and stress responses, as well as with social detachment. The neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) have been associated with both regulating fear and neuroendocrine stress responsiveness and social behaviour. However, there is only limited evidence for dysregulated peripheral OT and AVP levels in PTSD patients. The present study aimed to investigate basal salivary OT and AVP levels in trauma-exposed male and female police officers with and without PTSD. Saliva samples were collected during rest and OT and AVP levels were determined using a radioimmunoassay. Men and women were analysed separately, having adjusted for differences in trauma history, and for hormonal contraception use in women. The results showed that male PTSD patients had lower basal salivary OT levels, and did not differ in AVP levels compared to male trauma-exposed healthy controls after adjusting for childhood emotional abuse. There were no significant differences in basal salivary OT and AVP levels in women. Our findings indicate potential dysfunctioning of the OT system in male PTSD patients. Future studies are needed to replicate these findings and to further unravel the relationship between the OT and AVP systems, sex, trauma history and PTSD.
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PMID:Salivary Oxytocin and Vasopressin Levels in Police Officers With and Without Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 2618 39