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)

Dams were fed normal laboratory chow until delivery. At birth, the litters were combined, and eight pups were randomly assigned to each dam. Dams with the recombined litters were divided into two groups. Dams of group 1 were fed a 20% protein diet as a control; dams of group 2 were fed a 20% protein diet supplemented with caffeine (2 mg/100 g of the dam's weight). On day 22, the dams of group 2 were anaesthetized with ether. They were injected with 2 iu of oxytocin in order to collect milk. Blood was collected from pups and dams to determine its caffeine concentration. The first and second molars were removed from each pup's mandible and maxilla. Radiographs were taken of 10 randomly selected first or second molars from each group. Four randomly selected molars from each litter were placed in a specially designed chamber and bathed with a constant flow of acid solution to determine the amount of mineral dissolved from the enamel surfaces. The remaining non-acid exposed molars were pulverized in freezer mills. A small portion of this powder was then analysed for the total amount of minerals. No differences were found in the radiographic density of enamel between the groups. The amount of dissolved calcium, phosphorus and magnesium from enamel surfaces in the caffeine group was consistently greater than that of the non-caffeine group in the first molars, whereas, in the second molars, there was no difference between the groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Effects of maternal caffeine intake during lactation on molar enamel surfaces in new-born rats. 162 36

Rats whose mothers had been treated with 1 microgram of arginine vasopressin (AVP) or oxytocin (OXT), 15 mg of caffeine, or saline on days 13-19 of gestation were given training on a passive avoidance response as adults. Female rats whose mothers had been exposed to either AVP or caffeine demonstrated enhanced retention of the response. No effects were found for male rats or for exposure to oxytocin. These results suggest that prenatal exposure to AVP or caffeine produced sexually dimorphic effects on learning and that the effects are specific to the structure of AVP.
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PMID:Prenatal exposure to AVP or caffeine but not oxytocin alters learning in female rats. 228 3

1. The effect of caffeine on mechanical activity was studied in pregnant rat myometrium. 2. In muscle cells with intact plasmalemmae, caffeine (0.1-50 mM) produced no contraction whatever the experimental conditions. 3. Caffeine (0.1-10 mM) inhibited, in a concentration-dependent manner, contractions induced by electrical stimulation, potassium-rich (60 mM K+) solution, sodium-free solution or oxytocin (22.5 nM). 4. In Ca2(+)-free solution, various substances (oxytocin, sodium orthovanadate and prostaglandin E2) evoked sustained contractions that were suppressed by caffeine (5-10 mM). When caffeine (greater than 5 mM) was applied during Ca2(+)-loading of the tissue (2.1 mM Ca2+, 5 min) in the presence of a K(+)-rich solution, the subsequent transient contraction induced by a short application (10s) of oxytocin (22.5 nM) in Ca-free solution was reduced (63 +/- 3.5% reduction for 20 mM caffeine, n = 4). 5. In saponin-skinned strips, application of caffeine (5-10 mM) during loading of the Ca2(+)-store increased the subsequent contraction induced by myo-inositol 1,4,5 trisphosphate (IP3, 10 microM). Caffeine (10-30 mM) decreased calcium-activated contractions in skinned fibres lacking a functional internal Ca-store. This effect was reduced by the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor Thr-Thr-Tyr-Ala-Asp-Phe-Ile-Ala-Ser-Gly-Arg-Thr-Gly-Arg-Arg-Asn-Ala-Ile- His-Asp (8 microM). 6. In conclusion, it is suggested that the inability of caffeine to cause spasm of rat myometrium is due to the absence of a caffeine-sensitive calcium-release channel in the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Relaxant effects of caffeine can be explained by mechanisms leading to a decrease in both the cytoplasmic free Ca2+ concentration and the Ca2 +-sensitivity of the contractile machinery.
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PMID:Caffeine acting on pregnant rat myometrium: analysis of its relaxant action and its failure to release Ca2+ from intracellular stores. 232 93

During acquisition of avoidance conditioned reflex (CR) in shuttle box by electric shock it is shown that the performance of that defence reaction is induced by the joint action of two factors: general arousal of animals and motivation. Motor activity of rats in an "open field", the number of short-latency (2s) and intersignal responses during formation of the avoidance CR are in index of the general arousal of rats. An artificial increase in the general arousal of animals by caffeine induces acceleration of CR performance. A constant level of the general arousal of rats is one of the reasons that oxytocin does not influence the rate and dynamics of the avoidance CR performance in rats.
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PMID:[Analysis of the process of learning in the formation of the conditioned reflex of avoidance in rats]. 236 56

The inhibitory effects of papaverine, isoprenaline and caffeine on contractility in rat isolated uterus were studied in Ca-free medium. Uterine contractions were elicited by oxytocin or vanadate and the magnitude of the contractile response was not similar for the two spasmogens, indicating that they act under different intracellular stores. Oxytocin- or vanadate-induced contractile responses were completely relaxed by papaverine, indicating a mechanism less specific than isoprenaline or caffeine. Both of them relax completely the oxytocin-induced contraction and only partially the vanadate-induced contraction. After caffeine treatment, the recovery of the contractile response to oxytocin or vanadate was total, but after isoprenaline treatment the contractile response could not be restored. This suggests that different mechanisms of relaxation of uterine smooth muscle operate for isoprenaline and caffeine.
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PMID:Different effects of papaverine, isoprenaline and caffeine on rat uterine contractility in Ca-free medium. 251 86

A comparison was made of contractions produced by submaximal doses of oxytocin, noradrenaline, PGE2 and PGF2 alpha in estrogen-dominated rat uterus after the preparation had been loaded in Ca-free medium supplemented with EDTA 3 mM. The experiments were carried out in the presence of EDTA 1 mM to complex the contaminating Ca. The contraction was sustained as long as the preparation was exposed to the drug and was relaxed by washing. Cumulative concentration-response curves to oxytocin (6.25-100 microM), noradrenaline (0.05-1.6 mM), PGE2 (0.1-1.6 microM) and PGF2 alpha (0.02-0.32 microM) were made. The threshold concentration for PGF2 alpha was much lower than for PGE2, oxytocin and noradrenaline. Isoprenaline (10- -10(-4)M), KCl (56.3 mM) and caffeine (5 mM) were added. The results showed that isoprenaline and KCl did not produce contractile response. Caffeine produces only a small decrease in the resting tension and this effect is not reversible. After addition of noradrenaline, a concentration of oxytocin (6 microM) produced a uterine contraction smaller than the control response of uterus to oxytocin. The response to the oxytocin applied after washing out the caffeine was the same as the control response. All agonists tested that were capable of inducing uterine contraction in Ca-free medium act through specific receptors. This suggests a relation between receptor-operated Ca-channels and intracellular Ca-stores.
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PMID:Role of intracellular calcium stores in the contractile response of uterus to several agonists. 310 89

1. Certain commercial preparations of oxytocin have been reported to reverse the development of pale soft exudative meat and malignant hyperpyrexia (MH) in pigs in vitro. 2. In this study it is shown that preservative-free oxytocin has no significant effect on the characteristic contractures of MH susceptible (MHS) muscle to halothane, caffeine, succinylcholine and KCl in vitro. 3. Whilst a commercial preparation of oxytocin, Syntocinon (containing chlorbutol as preservative), reversed and prevented the MHS characteristic responses, this study demonstrates conclusively that this was entirely due to the preservative chlorbutol.
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PMID:The effect of oxytocin on porcine malignant hyperpyrexia susceptible skeletal muscle. 343 5

The contractile response of the longitudinal muscle of non-pregnant rat myometrium to oxytocin (0.2-20 nM) consisted of a phasic and a tonic component. Ca-removal abolished the phasic component but a tonic contraction could be evoked without reduction of amplitude for 50 h. Exceptionally, the tonic contraction also disappeared gradually in Ca-free medium containing 2 mM EGTA. When oxytocin was repeatedly applied in the absence of Ca, the response became at first progressively larger before reaching a steady state. Transient addition of Ca to the medium reduced the size of the subsequent oxytocin contraction. In Ca-free medium, the tissue lost Ca slowly, but it still contained 40 mumol kg-1 after 6 h and roughly 1 mumol kg-1 wet weight after 24 h exposure. 45Ca efflux was marginally increased by oxytocin (20 nM). Caffeine (5-30 mM) produced no contraction, but slightly reduced the resting tension and strongly inhibited the oxytocin response both in the presence and in the absence of Ca. Caffeine also blocked the contraction induced by Ca added to Ca-free 40 mM K solution. However, pretreatment with caffeine (30 mM) had no effect on the following oxytocin response. A calmodulin antagonist, trifluoperazine (1-10 microM) suppressed strongly the Ca-induced contraction, but had only a weak effect on the oxytocin response in Ca-free medium. Chlorpromazine (10-100 microM) and fluphenazine (10-30 microM) had similar effects. A different type of antagonist, N-(6-aminohexyl)-5-chloro-1-naphthalene sulphonamide (W-7) (0.1 mM) almost completely blocked responses to both oxytocin and to Ca, but recovery of the Ca-induced contraction was much better than that of the oxytocin response in Ca-free solution. 6 Since no evidence was found for intracellular Ca release by oxytocin, and as there were several differences between the effects of calmodulin antagonists on the oxytocin response and on the Ca-induced response of similar size, the possibility remains that some Ca-independent process is involved in the contractile response to oxytocin observed in Ca-free solution.
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PMID:The response of non-pregnant rat myometrium to oxytocin in Ca-free solution. 397 9

A possible role for adenylcyclase in insulin secretion was investigated. Isoproterenol, a predominantly beta-adrenergic agent, when mixed with an alpha-adrenergic blocking agent (phenoxybenzamine), stimulated insulin secretion from pieces of the rat's pancreas in vitro. Theophylline, caffeine, 3'5'-cyclic AMP, glucagon, adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), and thyrotropin (TSH), all of which are thought to act through the adenylcyclase systems in the liver and adipose tissue, also stimulated insulin secretion in vitro; oxytocin and vasopressin, which do not stimulate lipolysis in adipose tissue, were inactive. In all cases, stimulation of insulin secretion could not be detected when glucose was absent or present in only low concentrations (less than 100 mg/100 ml) and was maximal at high levels of glucose (300 mg/100 ml). When pancreatic tissue was obtained from normoglycemic rats and contained no detectable glycogen in the Islets, the stimulant effects of glucose and of theophylline were reduced or abolished by mannoheptulose and 2-deoxyglucose. When tissue was derived from rats infused for 8-10 hr with glucose and contained glycogen, theophylline, even in the absence of glucose, stimulated secretion and this effect was reduced by 2-deoxyglucose but not by mannoheptulose. It is suggested that the beta-cell contains an adenylcyclase system through which phosphorylase and possibly phosphofructokinase could be activated; and that insulin secretion could depend upon and be regulated by hormones and other substances which influence the rate at which glycolysis proceeds within the beta-cell.
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PMID:A possible role for the adenylcyclase system in insulin secretion. 429 54

1. Intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was monitored in single cells isolated from adult rat supraoptic (SO) nuclei. The great majority of cells (85%) were neurones and most were immunoreactive to oxytocin or to vasopressin (AVP). 2. The resting [Ca2+]i of the majority (80%) of the neurones remained stable while 20% of the neurones displayed spontaneous [Ca2+]i oscillations which disappeared in low-Ca2+ (100 nM) EGTA buffer. 3. Addition of 100 nM oxytocin increased the [Ca2+]i in both stable and oscillating cells. Two types of responses were observed: (i) a sustained response with [Ca2+]i being maintained at an elevated level and (ii) a brief response with [Ca2+]i quickly returning to a near-resting level. Responses were reproducible, dose dependent and blocked with a specific oxytocin antagonist. 4. Removal of extracellular Ca2+ did not block the oxytocin response. In EGTA buffer, application of thapsigargin (200 nM) onto oxytocin-sensitive cells induced an increase in [Ca2+]i and inhibited the oxytocin response. These effects were not induced by other intracellular Ca2+ mobilizers such as tBuBHQ (see Methods) or caffeine. 5. In conclusion, half of the SO cells respond to oxytocin with a rise in [Ca2+]i. The effect is mediated by oxytocin receptors and results from release of Ca2+ from thapsigargin-sensitive stores.
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PMID:A rise in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration of isolated rat supraoptic cells in response to oxytocin. 752 43


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