To understand the physiological role of ghrelin, it is crucial to study both the actions of ghrelin and the regulation of ghrelin secretion. Although ghrelin actions have been extensively revealed, the direct factors regulating ghrelin secretion by ghrelin-producing cells (X/A-like cells), however, is not fully understood. In this study, we examined the effects of peptide hormones and neurotran...

[3H]Oxytocin, incubated with mammary tissue from the lactating rat, was bound specifically to three particulate fractions obtained by homogenization and centrifugation at 1,000, 20,000, and 105,000 x g. Radioactivity in the cytosol appeared to be unbound oxytocin, as determined by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. Oxytocin was distributed about equally among the three particulate fractions and ...

The peptides alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) and oxytocin have very similar effects on several behaviours, including male sexual behaviour. Both induce penile erection and enhance copulatory behaviour when given centrally, suggesting that their central actions are not independent. Here, we used intromission as a physiological stimulus to investigate whether some central effects...

Recent studies showed that oxytocin plays an important role in nociceptive modulation in the central nervous system. The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of oxytocin in antinociception in the nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) of rats and the possible interaction between oxytocin and the opioid systems. Intra-NRM injection of oxytocin induced dose-dependent increases in hindpaw with...

Background: The organochlorine DDT has estrogenic activity but the mechanism underlying the estrogenic activity of this pesticide remains unclear. In the present investigation here, we studied the transcriptional effects of a synthetic organochlorine pesticide o,p’-DDT [1.1.1.-trichloro-2-(o-chlorophenyl)-2-p-chloriphenyl ethane] and its metabolite p,p'-DDE (2-2-bis(4/chlorophenyl)-1-1-di...

s | 39 Abstract Oxytocin has been proposed as a potential treatment approach in drug addiction, but little is known about the effects of oxytocin in translationally relevant models of addiction or the neurobiological substrates of the actions of oxytocin. This presentation highlights the ability of oxytocin to reduce drug taking and drug seeking in a rat model of methamphetamine (meth) addictio...

s | 39 Abstract Oxytocin has been proposed as a potential treatment approach in drug addiction, but little is known about the effects of oxytocin in translationally relevant models of addiction or the neurobiological substrates of the actions of oxytocin. This presentation highlights the ability of oxytocin to reduce drug taking and drug seeking in a rat model of methamphetamine (meth) addictio...

The psychostimulant methamphetamine (METH) is an addictive drug of abuse. The neuropeptide oxytocin has been shown to modulate METH-related reward and METH-seeking behaviour. Recent findings implicated the subthalamic nucleus (STh) as a key brain region in oxytocin modulation of METH-induced reward. However, it is unclear if oxytocin acts in this region to attenuate relapse to METH-seeking beha...

Desensitization of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) in the setting of prolonged oxytocin exposure may lead to dysfunctional labor, which increases the risk for cesarean delivery, and uterine atony, which may result in postpartum hemorrhage. The molecular mechanism for OXTR desensitization is through the agonist-mediated recruitment of the multifunctional protein β-arrestin. In addition to its desen...

The nonpeptide hormone oxytocin does not receive much thought from the renal community compared with its colleague, vasopressin. These two hormones display close similarities in chemical structure (differing by only two amino acids), their genes cluster at the same locus (20p13), and they are transcribed from opposite DNA strands and exhibit similar intron– exon structures.1 Both are synthesize...