The hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin, known for its involvement in social affiliation and bonding in animals, has recently been associated with a host of prosocial behaviors that are beneficial for maintaining positive social relationships in humans. Paradoxically, however, people with high endogenous levels of oxytocin also tend to report relational distress and interpersonal difficulties in...

background: phytoestrogens, a group of plant-derived polyphenolic compounds have recently come into considerable attention due to the increasing information on their potential adverse effects in human health. some of phytoestrogens show estrogenic activity that may be carcinogenic for human. in the present study, we investigated the transcriptional effects of variety of phytoestrogens on the bo...

Oxytocin protects against ischemia-induced inflammation and oxidative stress, and is associated with GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid, an inhibitory neurotransmitter) signaling transduction in neurons. However, the molecular mechanism by which oxytocin affords neuroprotection, especially the interaction between oxytocin receptor and GABAA receptor (GABAAR), remains to be elucidated. Primary rat neural...

BACKGROUND Although oxytocin is one of the most widely studied neuropeptides in recent times, the mechanistic process by which it modulates social-affective behavior in the brain is not yet clearly understood. Thus, to understand the neurophysiological basis of oxytocin effects, we used resting-state functional MRI to examine the effects of intranasal oxytocin on brain connectivity in healthy m...

Previous work indicates that intranasal inhalation of oxytocin improves face recognition skills, raising the possibility that it may be used in security settings. However, it is unclear whether oxytocin directly acts upon the core face-processing system itself or indirectly improves face recognition via affective or social salience mechanisms. In a double-blind procedure, 60 participants receiv...

Hypothalamic neuropeptides play essential roles in regulating energy and body weight balance. Energy imbalance and obesity have been linked to hypothalamic signaling defects in regulating neuropeptide genes; however, it is unknown whether dysregulation of neuropeptide exocytosis could be critically involved. This study discovered that synaptotagmin-4, an atypical modulator of synaptic exocytosi...

The neuropeptide Oxytocin influences a number of social behaviors, including processing of faces. We examined whether Oxytocin facilitates the processing of out-group faces and reduce the own-race bias (ORB). The ORB is a robust phenomenon characterized by poor recognition memory of other-race faces compared to same-race faces. In Experiment 1, participants received intranasal solutions of Oxyt...

Beyond its role in parturition and lactation, oxytocin influences higher brain processes that control social behavior of mammals, and perturbed oxytocin signaling has been linked to the pathogenesis of several psychiatric disorders. However, it is still largely unknown how oxytocin exactly regulates neuronal function. We show that early, transient oxytocin exposure in vitro inhibits the develop...

The role of oxytocin in attenuating the abuse of licit and illicit drugs, including the psychostimulant methamphetamine, has been examined with increased ferocity in recent years. This is largely driven by the potential application of oxytocin as a pharmacotherapy. However, the neural mechanisms by which oxytocin modulates methamphetamine abuse are not well understood. Recent research identifie...

Jugular venous blood samples were collected throughout a complete oestrous cycle from 9 mares for measurement of progesterone and oxytocin by radioimmunoassay. Mean oxytocin concentrations remained at approximately 1 pg/ml throughout, with no evidence of cyclic variation in the release pattern. Extracts of corpus luteum and follicles obtained from a further 33 mares at different stages of the c...