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

Clinically significant separation anxiety disorder in childhood leads to adult panic disorder and other anxiety disorders. The prevailing pathophysiological model of anxiety disorders, which emphasizes extinction deficits of fear-conditioned responses, does not fully consider the role of separation anxiety. Pathological early childhood attachments have far-reaching consequences for the later adult ability to experience and internalize positive relationships in order to develop mental capacities for self-soothing, anxiety tolerance, affect modulation, and individuation. Initially identified in attachment research, the phenomenon of separation anxiety is supported by animal model, neuroimaging, and genetic studies. A role of oxytocin is postulated. Adults, inured to their anxiety, often do not identify separation anxiety as problematic, but those who develop anxiety and mood disorders respond more poorly to both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions. This poorer response may reflect patients' difficulty in forming and maintaining attachments, including therapeutic relationships. Psychotherapies that focus on relationships and separation anxiety may benefit patients with separation anxiety by using the dyadic therapist-patient relationship to recapture and better understand important elements of earlier pathological parent-child relationships.
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PMID:Childhood separation anxiety and the pathogenesis and treatment of adult anxiety. 2412 27

Clinical anxiety disorders in youth are common and associated with interpersonal behaviors including reliance on parents for family accommodation, or changes that parents make to their own behaviors to help the youth avoid anxiety related distress. The neuropeptide oxytocin is associated with the regulation of anxiety and of close interpersonal behavior leading to the hypothesis that oxytocinergic functioning plays a role in youth anxiety and its disorders, and the resulting family accommodation. To test this hypothesis salivary OT from 50 youth with primary DSM-5 anxiety disorders was assayed. A multi-source/multi-method anxiety assessment including semistructured interviews with youth and mothers, rating scales, and behavioral observations was used to assess anxiety disorders and symptoms, and family accommodation. Youth with separation anxiety disorder had significantly lower salivary OT levels than clinically anxious youth not diagnosed with separation anxiety disorder. Salivary OT levels were significantly negatively correlated with separation anxiety symptoms based on both youth- and mother-ratings. Anxious behavior displayed by youth during interactions with their mothers was associated with lower salivary OT levels in youth. Maternal ratings of family accommodation were negatively associated with salivary OT levels in youth. Results support the role of the oxytocinergic system in youth anxiety and its disorders and in parental involvement in youth anxiety through family accommodation. OT may be particularly important for diagnoses and symptoms of separation anxiety, which is inherently interpersonal in nature. Findings have potentially important implications for assessment and treatment of anxiety in youth.
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PMID:Salivary oxytocin in clinically anxious youth: Associations with separation anxiety and family accommodation. 2671 76

In the present chapter, we review the literature focusing on oxytocin (OT)-centered research in anxiety spectrum conditions, comprising separation anxiety disorder, specific phobias, social anxiety disorder (SAD), panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and anxiety-related endophenotypes (e.g., trust behavior, behavioral inhibition, neuroticism, and state/trait anxiety). OT receptor gene (OXTR) polymorphisms have been implicated in gene-environment interactions with attachment style and childhood maltreatment and to influence clinical outcomes, including SAD intensity and limbic responsiveness. Epigenetic OXTR DNA methylation patterns have emerged as a link between categorical, dimensional, neuroendocrinological, and neuroimaging SAD correlates, highlighting them as potential peripheral surrogates of the central oxytocinergic tone. A pathophysiological framework of OT integrating the dynamic nature of epigenetic biomarkers and the summarized genetic and peripheral evidence is proposed. Finally, we emphasize opportunities and challenges of OT as a key network node of social interaction and fear learning in social contexts. In conjunction with multi-level investigations incorporating a dimensional understanding of social affiliation and avoidance in anxiety spectrum disorders, these concepts will help to promote research for diagnostic, state, and treatment response biomarkers of the OT system, advancing towards indicated preventive interventions and personalized treatment approaches.
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PMID:Oxytocin and Anxiety Disorders. 2881 74

Oxytocin, a neuropeptide synthesized by the hypothalamus, plays a central role in human social behavior, social cognition, anxiety, mood, stress modulation, and fear learning and extinction. The relationships between oxytocin and psychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and autism spectrum disorder have been extensively studied. In this chapter, we focus on the current knowledge about oxytocin and anxiety disorder. We discuss the anxiolytic effects of oxytocin in preclinical and clinical findings, possible related neurobehavioral mechanisms (social cognition, fear learning, and extinction), related neurotransmitter and neuroendocrine systems (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, serotoninergic, and GABAergic systems), and studies regarding plasma levels of oxytocin, genetic and epigenetic findings, and effects of intranasal oxytocin in DSM-5 anxiety disorder (primarily social anxiety disorder and separation anxiety disorder) patients.
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PMID:The Role of the Oxytocin System in Anxiety Disorders. 3200 25