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)

The effect of L-DOPA on milk ejection and on prolactin release during 30 min of suckling was studied in lactating rats. Various doses of L-DOPA (1-25, 2-5, 5 and 10 mg/100 g body wt) were injected i.p. 30 min before the suckling period. Control rats were injected with 0-9% NaCl solution only. An inhibition of milk ejection proportional to the dose of drug administered was obtained. The dose of 10 mg completely blocked milk ejection but 1-25 mg had no effect. A normal milk-ejection response was obtained with a small dose of oxytocin injected immediately before nursing into mothers treated with 10 mg L-DOPA, indicating that the blocking effect was not due to a lack of mammary gland response. In control mothers, serum prolactin levels increased from 67-2 +/- 25-9 (S.E.M.) to 950-3 +/- 118-7 ng/ml after a 30 min suckling period. L-DOPA (5 and 10 mg) prevented the release of prolactin induced by suckling, but 1-25 and 2-5 mg L-DOPA had no effect. The results indicate that oxytocin and prolactin release induced by suckling in lactating rats is inhibited by an increase of catecholamines at the hypothalamic-hypophysial axis.
J Endocrinol 1975 Dec
PMID:Effect of L-dopa on milk ejection and prolactin release in lactating rats. 120 26

Abortion was successfully induced in 62 of 68 patients in the 9th to the 26th week of pregnancy be serial intramuscular administration of 15(S)-15-methyl-prostaglandin F2alpha (15-ME-PGF2alpha). In 6 patients who failed to abort after 24 hours of prostaglandin administration, a concomitant infusion of oxytocin was initiated; 5 of these patients aborted within 12 hours of the combined therapy. A single patient failed to abort, even with the combined therapy, and underwent surgical evacuation. The mean abortion time in the 67 successful inductions was 14.56 hours. Parous patients aborted somewhat fasteter, mean 13.98 hours, as compared to nulliparous patients, mean 15.02 hours, but this difference was not statistically significant. In this study initial intramuscular injection of 100 mug 15-ME-PGF2alpha was followed in 1 hour by 250 mug and then 250 mug every 2 hours with concomitant oxytocin therapy initiated after 24 hours. The results with this dose schedule were compared to the results obtained in a previous study with a higher dose schedule, an initial dose of 100 mug 15-ME-PGF2alpha, followed in 1 hour by 250 mug then 500 mug every 2 hours. There was significant difference in the mean abortion time and the incidence of side effects between the 2 dose schedules. The mean abortion time for patients with gestational ages 16 weeks and less was the same with both dose schedules, however patients with gestational ages of 17 weeks and higher aborted somewhat faster with the higher dose schedule. It might therefore be advisable for patients with gestations of 17 weeks and higher to be treated with the higher dose schedule. In earlier gestations patients could be started on the lower schedule, and if abortion had not occurred within 15 hours the dose of 15-ME-PGF2alpha could then be increased to 500 mug every 2 hours.
Prostaglandins 1975 Dec
PMID:Serial intramuscular injections of 15(S)-15-methyl-prostaglandin F2alpha in the induction of abortion. 120 81

Midtrimester abortion was successfully induced in 13 of 22 patients by serial intravaginal administration of 15(S)-15-methyl-prostaglandin F2alpha (THAM) suppositories. Nine patients, 4 nulliparas and 5 multiparas, failed to abort after 24 hours of prostaglandin administration and a concomitant infusion of oxytocin was initiated. Seven of the nine patients aborted within 7 hours of the combined therapy and one patient on methadone maintainence aborted after 17.5 hours of combined therapy, 41.5 hours after the first dose of prostaglandin. A single patient failed to abort, despite the concomitant prostaglandin-oxytocin administration and underwent surgical evacuation. The mean abortion time for the 21 successful abortions was 22.56 hours. Nulliparous patients aborted somewhat faster, mean 21.79 hours, than multiparous patients, mean 23.80 hours, but this difference was not statistically significant. In this study, one patient aborted in less than 12 hours, and 62% of the successful cases aborted within 24 hours. The plasma levels of 15-ME-PGF2alpha were analyzed by radioimmunoassay in 10 patients. Plasma prostaglandin levels rose significantly 30 minutes after the insertion of the first suppository, but there was a wide variation in levels from patient to patient. It was observed that the 2 patients with the highest levels had the fastest abortion times and episodes of gastro-intestinal side effects appeared related to a rise in prostaglandin levels. Sixty-four percent of the patients in this study had no gastro-intestinal side effect related to prostaglandin administration.
Prostaglandins 1975 Dec
PMID:Induction of midtrimester abortion by serial intravaginal administration of 15(S)-15-methyl-prostaglandin F2alpha (THAM) suppositories. 120 82

The effects of prolactin or oxytocin on milk secretion and the permeability of the mammary epithelium have been investigated in rabbits. 2. Milk yield was increased by prolactin treatment in late (25-28 days) but not in established (11-14 days) lactation. 3. Prolactin treatment increased milk [lactose] and [K] and decreased [Na] and [Cl] in late lactation, and thus reversed the normal changes in late lactation, but had no significant effect in established lactation. 4. [14C]sucrose movements from blood to milk were significantly decreased to levels characteristic of established lactation, following prolactin treatment in late lactation. No significant effect was evident with treatment in established lactation. Na and Cl movements showed similar trends. 5. It is suggested that prolactin in some way affects paracellular movements of ions and small molecules like lactose across the mammary epithelium, and that this mechanism is responsible for the changes in the composition of the aqueous phase of milk. 6. Immediately following a single dose of 100 m-u. oxytocin no significant effects on milk composition were evident but after 1 u. milk [Na] and [cl] were significantly increased. 7. Twenty-four hr after 1 u. oxytocin, milk [Na] and [cl] were decreased while [K], [lactose], [fat] and [protein] were increased. 8. During an I.V. infusion of oxytocin milk [Na] and [Cl] increased while [K] and [lactose] decreased. The passage of [(14)C]sucrose, 24Na and (36)Cl from blood to milk also increased. 9. These effects of oxytocin are discussed in relation to the permeability of the mammary epithelium and the pathways for ion movements, and to other studies on milk composition in the rabbit involving the administration of oxytocin to aid in the evacuation of milk.
J Physiol 1975 Dec
PMID:The effects of prolactin and oxytocin on milk secretion and on the permeability of the mammary epithelium in the rabbit. 121 26

The effects of oxytocin, a uterotonic polypeptide hormone, on the voltage-dependent slow calcium, fast sodium, and potassium channel currents were studied using whole-cell voltage clamp of freshly isolated cells from late pregnant (18-21 day) rat myometrium. The calcium current was rapidly inhibited by oxytocin (about 25% inhibition at 20 nM) in a dose-dependent manner, and this inhibitory effect was completely reversible by washout. However, inhibition was not observed when barium was used as the charge carrier. Sodium current and potassium current were not modified by oxytocin, thus sodium and potassium currents may not play important roles in oxytocin-induced augmentation of uterine contraction. It is concluded that oxytocin stimulates uterine contraction by mechanisms other than augmentation of the voltage-dependent calcium current, e.g., by release of Ca from sarcoplasmic reticulum (by inositol triphosphate) or by activation of a receptor-operated Ca channel. The inhibition of the slow calcium current may be induced by the elevation of [Ca]i.
Can J Physiol Pharmacol 1992 Dec
PMID:Oxytocin actions on voltage-dependent ionic channels in pregnant rat uterine smooth muscle cells. 128 86

The homozygote Brattleboro rat exhibits a hereditary diabetes insipidus due to a deficiency of vasopressin, the antidiuretic hormone. It has previously been shown that in this animal a single nucleotide deletion in the provasopressin gene leads to a mutant precursor with a C-terminal amino acid sequence different from that of the wild-type. However the N-terminal region including the hormone moiety, the processing signal as well as the first two-thirds of the neurophysin is entirely preserved and absence of maturation has to be explained by an additional cause. We show here that the neurohypophysis of the homozygote Brattleboro rat, in contrast to the adenohypophysis, displays a significant decrease in the Lys-Arg processing endopeptidase activity when compared to the heterozygote or the wild-type Wistar. It is suggested that hypothalamic vasopressinergic neurons of the homozygote Brattleboro rat display a deficiency in the processing enzyme in contrast to the oxytocinergic neurons in which processing of prooxytocin is normal.
Biosci Rep 1992 Dec
PMID:Processing endopeptidase deficiency in neurohypophysial secretory granules of the diabetes insipidus (Brattleboro) rat. 129 35

1. Extracellular recordings were made from 297 spontaneously firing neurones in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV) in slice preparations of rat medulla oblongata. Some of the neurones recorded were identified to be vagal motoneurones by antidromic stimulation. The cells fired with a slow irregular pattern at an average rate of 1.1 +/- 0.1 spikes/s (mean +/- S.E.M.). 2. Arginine vasopressin (AVP) was applied by perfusion in 196 of the 297 cells. Most of the neurones (190/196, 97%) were excited by 10(-6) M AVP with an increase in firing rate from the basal level of 1.1 +/- 0.1 to a maximum of 2.5 +/- 0.2 spikes/s. There was a dose-dependent relation between the concentration of AVP and the increased firing rate in all DMV neurones tested (n = 38). The threshold concentration of the peptide to produce changes in firing rate was assumed to be about 10(-10) M. The remaining six neurones were not affected by application of AVP. 3. Application of oxytocin (OXT, 10(-6) M) increased the firing rate of all thirty-eight neurones tested. The effects of AVP and OXT on all neurones examined (n = 20 and 4, respectively) still persisted after blocking the synaptic transmission in a low-Ca2+ or Ca(2+)-free-high-Mg2+ solution, indicating the direct action of both AVP and OXT on the postsynaptic membranes. 4. The AVP-induced excitatory responses were completely but reversibly blocked by the V1-type receptor antagonists, [1-(beta-mercapto-beta, beta-cyclopentamethylene-propionic acid), 2-(O-methyl)tyrosine]-arginine vasopressin (d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)AVP) (n = 5) and Phaa-D-Tyr(Et)Phe-Gln-Asn-Lys-Pro-Arg-NH2 (n = 6), whereas a selective and reversible OXT receptor antagonist, desGly-NH2d(CH2)5[Tyr-(Me)2Thr4]ornithine vasotocin, which suppressed the OXT-induced excitation, did not block the responses to AVP (n = 11). 5. Application of angiotensin II (AII, 10(-6) M) to 153 neurones increased the firing rates of 60 (39%) neurones. The firing rate was increased from the basal level of 1.0 +/- 0.1 to a maximum of 1.8 +/- 0.2 spikes/s (n = 60). The effect of AII was completely abolished by an AII receptor antagonist, [Sar1,Ile8]angiotensin II (n = 6). There was a dose dependence of the excitatory response on AII concentration in all of eleven neurones tested. The threshold concentration was assumed to be about 10(-9) M. The activity of 5 (3%) of 153 neurones was decreased, and the remaining 88 (58%) neurones were not affected by AII.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
J Physiol 1992 Dec
PMID:Effects of vasopressin and angiotensin II on neurones in the rat dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, in vitro. 130 79

1. Cholecystokinin is co-localized within the oxytocin- and, to a lesser extent, vasopressin-synthesizing magnocellular neurones in the hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei. These nuclei are also prominent binding sites for cholecystokinin. In the present study we used intracellular current- and voltage-clamp recordings from fifty-seven supraoptic nucleus cells, maintained in superfused explants of rat hypothalamus, to assess their membrane responses to exogenous cholecystokinin and define the nature of their cholecystokinin receptors. 2. In a majority of the fifty-seven cells tested, bolus infusions into the superfusion media of cholecystokinin fragments (maximum concentrations estimated at 0.3-15 microM) were followed within 1-5 s by a transient and reversible membrane depolarization. Active peptides included sulphated cholecystokinin octapeptide (26-33) (28 of 33 cells responded), non-sulphated cholecystokinin octapeptide (26-33) (21 of 25 cells responded), cholecystokinin tetrapeptide (30-33) (20 of 24 cells responded and caerulein (4 of 4 cells responded). None of five cells responded to cholecystokinin (26-28). Depolarizing responses to cholecystokinin analogues persisted in the presence of tetrodotoxin (0.2-0.4 microM), and in Ca(2+)-free solutions containing MnCl2 (2.5 mM). 3. Under voltage clamp, cholecystokinin fragments evoked an inward current accompanied by an increase in membrane conductance. The amplitude of the inward current varied linearly as a function of membrane voltage, with an extrapolated reversal potential of approximately -15 mV. Reversal potentials were not altered by chloride injection. These features suggest that cholecystokinin activates a non-selective cationic conductance. 4. Active cholecystokinin analogues were approximately equipotent in their depolarizing actions, a feature that supports the activation of cholecystokinin-B type receptors. Moreover bath application of 200 nM L-365,260, an antagonist with a high affinity for cholecystokinin-B receptors, reversibly attenuated the cholecystokinin-induced responses in four of six cells tested. 5. These observations indicate that cholecystokinin can directly influence the excitability of rat supraoptic nucleus neurones and provide evidence for an additional site where this peptide may act within the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial axis.
J Physiol 1992 Dec
PMID:Depolarizing action of cholecystokinin on rat supraoptic neurones in vitro. 130 81

A technique has been developed for prelabelling and permeabilisation of guinea pig uterine myocytes to enable measurement of arachidonic acid release/phospholipase A2 activity in cells with intact membranes. Intact cells were prelabelled with [3H]inositol or [3H]arachidonic acid for measurement of phospholipase C and A2 respectively. In intact cells 10 nM endothelin-1 or 1 microM bradykinin stimulated both inositol polyphosphate and arachidonic acid release, whilst 1 microM oxytocin, arginine vasopressin or histamine were without effect. In Streptolysin-O permeabilised myometrial cells calcium-stimulation of inositol polyphosphate and arachidonic acid release was detected between 10 microM and 1 mM free calcium. The patterns of inositol polyphosphate and arachidonic acid release were broadly similar. Responses to 1 mM calcium were not detected in intact cells not treated with Streptolysin-O. For arachidonic acid release the K0.5 for calcium activation was about 7 microM, a level above that normally likely to be found in the uterine myocyte. Hence it is concluded that unless there are high local concentrations of calcium close to the plasma membrane, calcium is unlikely alone to be the primary regulator of arachidonic acid release and phospholipase A2.
J Dev Physiol 1992 Dec
PMID:Measurement of arachidonic acid release from permeabilised myometrial cells of guinea pig uterus. 130 78

Pituitary cells, collected from five healthy dogs, were cultured and treated with various doses of ovine corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), arginine vasopressin (AVP), oxytocin (OT), or angiotensin II (AII) to determine which of these hypothalamic peptides affected adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) secretion. Of the 4 peptides, only CRH significantly increased ACTH secretion from cultured canine anterior pituitary cells. The lowest dose of CRH tested, 0.01 nM, significantly stimulated ACTH release. Co-addition of AVP, OT, or AII with CRH did not increase ACTH secretion beyond that caused by addition of CRH alone. Similarly, neither co-addition of AVP with OT, AVP with AII, or OT with AII significantly stimulated ACTH secretion. These results support a role for CRH in the physiologic regulation of ACTH secretion from the canine anterior pituitary, but do not support regulatory roles for AVP, OT, or AII.
Am J Vet Res 1992 Dec
PMID:Regulation of adrenocorticotropin secretion from cultured canine anterior pituitary cells. 133 8


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