There is growing interest in examining oxytocin and social functioning in human and non-human primates. Studies of human oxytocin biology are typically restricted to peripheral assessments because opportunities to collect cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are rare. Several studies have examined CSF oxytocin levels in captive adult primates, but none to our knowledge have been conducted under free-rangi...

Sabatier, Nancy, and Gareth Leng. Presynaptic actions of endocannabinoids mediate -MSH-induced inhibition of oxytocin cells. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 290: R577–R584, 2006. First published November 3, 2005; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00667.2005.—We recently showed that central injections of -melanocyte-stimulating hormone ( -MSH) inhibits oxytocin cells and reduces peripheral release of o...

When young suckle, they are rewarded intermittently with a let-down of milk that results from reflex secretion of the hormone oxytocin; without oxytocin, newly born young will die unless they are fostered. Oxytocin is made by magnocellular hypothalamic neurons, and is secreted from their nerve endings in the pituitary in response to action potentials (spikes) that are generated in the cell bodi...

Cellular mechanisms for antinociception produced by oxytocin in the spinal dorsal horn have not yet been investigated thoroughly. We examined how oxytocin affects synaptic transmission in substantia gelatinosa neurons, which play a pivotal role in regulating nociceptive transmission, by applying the whole-cell patch-clamp technique to the substantia gelatinosa neurons of adult rat spinal cord s...

One of the primary functions of the oxytocin receptor is to modulate intracellular calcium levels in myometrium. The oxytocin receptor has been purified and cloned. Although it has been suggested that oxytocin receptor couples with a GTP-binding regulatory protein (G-protein), the identity of this G-protein remains unclear. To elucidate themechanism of oxytocin receptor signalling, we used the ...

Solid phase methodology was developed for the synthesis of carba-analogues of oxytocin. Two known compounds (deaminc-l-carba-oxytocin (I) and deamino-fi-carba-oxytocin (II) and two new analogues ((4-threonine]deamino-l-carba-oxytocin (III) and [4-threoninc}deamino-6-carba-oxytocin (IV» were synthesized using different approaches. The latter two compounds were found to possess high biological ac...

The neuropeptide oxytocin is probably best known for its role in social behavior including maternal bonding. It is produced by hypothalamic neurons and plays numerous roles in the central nervous system (CNS) ranging from the establishment of the complex social behaviors over the modulation of neuroendocrine reflexes to the regulation of learning and memory. Over the past decade, oxytocin has a...

The effects of catecholamines and ascorbic acid on cultured bovine granulosa cells have been examined to assess their possible role in the initiation and maintenance of luteal oxytocin secretion. The actions of these agents have also been compared with the previously reported ability of follicular theca tissue to enhance oxytocin secretion. Using granulosa cells cultured in serum-supplemented m...