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)

Arginine (AVP) and lysine vasopressin induce a weak but statistically significant increase in the water permeability of Amoeba proteus plasmalemma. Vasotocin and deaminovasopressin, which share the hydroosmotic properties of AVP on classical vertebrate systems, are without effects on Amoeba while SKF 101926, a synthetic AVP antagonist, is even more effective than the parent compound. Theophyllin and dibutyryl-cAMP do not affect AVP action on Amoeba. Lithium, oxytocin, and carbachol are also without effect. Thus, it is unlikely that either V2 (cAMP) or V1 (phosphatidylinositol choline) receptors are involved. A clear correlation has been found between the amphiphilic character of tested peptides and their effect on Amoeba water permeability. Classical amphiphilic peptides, melittin, mastoparan, and fragment 1-8 of alpha-neoendorphin, also increased water permeability in Amoeba. It is known that vasopressin can interact with artificial lipid membranes, increasing their permeability to water. We propose that amphiphilic members of the AVP family interact directly with the lipid phase of the Amoeba membrane. Their incorporation within the lipid bilayer may cause local disruptions or may create micellar water channels as shown for other amphiphilic proteins. Our observations provide a model for the early evolution of peptide hormone systems, preceding the appearance of specific membrane receptors and associated second messenger amplifying mechanisms.
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PMID:The amphiphilic action of vasopressin and analogues on the plasma membrane of Amoeba proteus. 214 31

These studies provide an animal model for the lithium-induced decrease in suckling reported in the clinical literature that allows for more precise determination of causal mechanisms. Nine-day-old rat pups were administered lithium carbonate via either intraperitoneal (IP) injections or intragastric (IG) gavage in doses approximating that which human infants might receive via breast milk. The pups were tested for their ability to locate and attach to the nipples of an anesthetized dam. Lithium significantly increased the pups' latency to attach to a nipple. Further tests of milk extraction using oxytocin-induced milk-letdowns indicate that lithium also interferes with milk withdrawal. Tests of motor and sensory deficits using an open-field and an olfactory choice test indicated that lithium did not similarly impair these behavioral facets of suckling. Alternative mechanisms for lithium-produced suppression of suckling are discussed.
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PMID:Acute administration of lithium carbonate interferes with suckling in neonatal rats. 249 9

The preferred average conformation and structural subdomain interactions of the nonapeptide hormones vasopressin and ocytocin have been analyzed through the determination of their hydrodynamic volume and the thermal coefficient of the frictional resistance to rotation of their tyrosine residue. A spherical gross shape and an ellipsoidal gross shape were assessed respectively for ocytocin and vasopressin by fluorescence polarization analysis. Investigation of the thermal coefficient of viscosity and the critical temperature of both hormones and analogues indicated that strong interactions hold together the two structural subdomains of ocytocin (the flexible six-membered ring and the COOH-terminal tripeptide tail). An opposite situation was found in the case of vasopressin where such interactions could not be detected between the rigid ring and the flexible COOH-terminal tail. Lithium ions were shown to promote ocytocin binding to specific neurophysin sites restricted, under standard conditions, to vasopressin. In the presence of lithium, the gross conformational shape of ocytocin becomes similar to that of vasopressin but in the absence of salt. In addition, the ocytocin ring becomes more rigid in the presence of lithium while decreasing interactions between the ring and the COOH-terminal tail were detected. It is proposed that lithium ions induce specific conformational rearrangements of ocytocin toward a vasopressin-like structure, allowing recognition of this hormonal ligand by a specific vasopressin binding domain of neurophysins.
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PMID:Salt-dependent structural changes of neurohormones: lithium ions induce conformational rearrangements of ocytocin to a vasopressin-like structure. 299 81

1. The effect of intravenous infusions of various ions on the antidiuretic action of antidiuretic hormone has been studied in rats.2. Lithium (13 mmol/l.) reversibly inhibits the antidiuretic responses. Similar concentrations of potassium, rubidium, strontium, magnesium, choline and calcium do not. Lithium has a similar effect on the antidiuretic activity of oxytocin.3. The inhibition is not simply related to blood nor whole body lithium concentrations.4. Lithium (2 mmol/l.) in contact with the serosal surface also inhibits the transport of water facilitated by either 0.5 U/l. antidiuretic hormone or 1.1 mmol/l. cyclic adenosine monophosphate in the isolated toad bladder.5. Choline (2 mmol/l.) on the serosal surface also inhibits the transport of water facilitated by vasopressin in the toad bladder.
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PMID:Some aspects of the inhibition of the action of antidiuretic hormone by lithium ions in the rat kidney and bladder of the toad Bufo marinus. 435 11

Lithium lengthens the free-running period of circadian rhythms in a wide variety of organisms. The object of the present study was to examine the effects of lithium treatment on free-running activity rhythms in suprachiasmatic nuclei lesioned (SCN-X) hamsters that had recovered circadian rhythmicity following transplantation of fetal anterior hypothalamic grafts containing the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). The animals were housed individually in cages equipped with running wheels, and locomotor activity was monitored using a computer-based data acquisition system. At the end of the behavioral tests, animals were anesthetized and perfused. Brain sections were immunostained for vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and vasopressin-associated neurophysin (NP) to evaluate the extent of the lesion and the presence of a functional graft. In both intact and in SCN-X grafted animals, lithium lengthened the period of free running activity without affecting the amount of activity or the precision of the rhythm.
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PMID:Lithium lengthens the period of circadian rhythms in lesioned hamsters bearing SCN grafts. 825 Oct 24

The role of central oxytocin in inhibitory action of lithium on the development of morphine dependence was behavioral investigated in rats. Acute lithium could enhance the morphine-induced analgesia in rats with or without chronic morphine treatment; this effect could be inhibited by intraventricular injection of oxytocin antagonist d (CH(2))(5)-Tyr (Me)-[Orn(8)]-Vasotocin (OVT). Lithium could attenuate naloxone-precipitated withdrawal signs in morphine dependent rats. The reduction of the expression of naloxone-precipitated withdrawal signs by lithium was reversed by ICV of OVT. The lithium significantly inhibited the conditioned place preference (CPP) induced by morphine, which inhibitory action of lithium could also reverse by ICV injection of OVT. These results suggested that lithium might inhibit the physical dependence on morphine as well as psychological dependence in rats, and that this inhibitory effect of lithium on the development of morphine dependence might be associated with oxytocin systems in the central nervous system.
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PMID:Oxytocin mediates the inhibitory action of acute lithium on the morphine dependence in rats. 1159 42

Cannabis (i.e., marijuana and cannabinoids) is the most commonly used illicit drug in developed countries, and the lifetime prevalence of marijuana dependence is the highest of all illicit drugs in the United States. To provide clues for finding effective pharmacological treatment for cannabis-dependent patients, we examined the effects and possible mechanism of lithium administration on the cannabinoid withdrawal syndrome in rats. A systemic injection of the mood stabilizer lithium, at serum levels that were clinically relevant, prevented the cannabinoid withdrawal syndrome. The effects of lithium were accompanied by expression of the cellular activation marker Fos proteins within most oxytocin-immunoreactive neurons and a significant increase in oxytocin mRNA expression in the hypothalamic paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei. Lithium also produced a significant elevation of oxytocin levels in the peripheral blood. We suggest that the effects of lithium against the cannabinoid withdrawal syndrome are mediated by oxytocinergic neuronal activation and subsequent release and action of oxytocin within the CNS. In support of our hypothesis, we found that the effects of lithium against the cannabinoid withdrawal syndrome were antagonized by systemic preapplication of an oxytocin antagonist and mimicked by systemic or intracerebroventricular injection of oxytocin. These results demonstrate that oxytocinergic neuronal activation plays a critical role in the action of lithium against the cannabinoid withdrawal syndrome in rats, thus providing a potentially novel strategy for the treatment of cannabis dependence in humans.
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PMID:Prevention of cannabinoid withdrawal syndrome by lithium: involvement of oxytocinergic neuronal activation. 1173 94