ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2016
Local oxytocin tempers anxiety by activating GABAA receptors in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers.
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Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 110 citations in OpenAlex.
- Connectome dysfunction in patients at clinical high risk for psychosis and modulation by oxytocin.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Trial
- Oxytocin modulates hippocampal perfusion in people at clinical high risk for psychosis.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Trial
- Microbial lysate upregulates host oxytocin.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2017Trial
- Breastfeeding as a protective factor of maternal depression: a multi-country analysis from Africa and South Asia.Discover mental health · 2026Article
- Beyond lactation: Central oxytocin in maternal mental health and disease.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Carbon Monoxide: A Context-Dependent Regulator of the Stress Axis.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Addressing maternal cardiovascular risk: The impact of lactation, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and racial disparities.American heart journal plus : cardiology research and practice · 2025Article
- How does oxytocin modulate human behavior?Molecular psychiatry · 2025Review
- Article
- The long-term associations of childhood parental loss with attachment, creativity, and epigenetic regulation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Neuropeptidergic systems in psychiatric disorders.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- A narrative on the neurobiological roots of attachment-system functioning.Communications psychology · 2024Review
- Is Oxytocin a Contributor to Behavioral and Metabolic Features in Prader-Willi Syndrome?Current issues in molecular biology · 2024Review
- Pair bond quality influences social conditioned place preference expression, passive coping behavior, and central oxytocin receptor expression following partner loss in male prairie voles.Social neuroscience · 2024Article
- Limbic oxytocin receptor expression alters molecular signaling and social avoidance behavior in female prairie voles (Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Article
- Therapeutic uses of oxytocin in stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders.Cell & bioscience · 2023Review
- Chronic oxytocin-driven alternative splicing of Crfr2α induces anxiety.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- The Psychological Benefits of Breastfeeding: Fostering Maternal Well-Being and Child Development.Cureus · 2023Review
- The association between neuropeptide oxytocin and neuropsychiatric disorders after orthopedic surgery stress in older patients.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Oxytocin prevents dysregulation of the acute stress response and glucocorticoid-induced oxidative stress in chronically isolated prairie voles.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Oxytocin (Oxt) is released in various hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic brain areas in response to anxiogenic stimuli to regulate aspects of emotionality and stress coping. We examined the anxiolytic action of Oxt in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) while appraising if Oxt recruits GABA neurons to inhibit the behavioral, hormonal, and neuronal response to stress in female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Voles received an injection of Oxt in the PVN either before or after an elevated platform stress to determine a time-course for the effects of Oxt on the hormonal stress response. Subsequently, we evaluated if ante-stress injections of Oxt affected anxiety-like behaviors as well as neuronal activity in the PVN, using real-time in-vivo retrodialysis and immunohistochemistry with c-Fos expression as a biomarker of neural activity. In addition, we exposed voles to Oxt and a GABAA receptor antagonist, concurrently, to evaluate the impact of pharmacological blockade of GABAA receptors on the anxiolytic effects of Oxt. Elevated platform stress amplified anxiety-like behaviors and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity-catalyzing corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) neuronal activity and augmenting corticosterone release in circulation. Ante-stress Oxt injections in the PVN blocked these stress effects while promoting PVN GABA activity and release. Post-stress Oxt treatments were ineffective. The anxiolytic effects of Oxt were hindered by concurrent pharmacological blockade of GABAA receptors. Together, our data demonstrate ante-stress treatments of Oxt in the PVN inhibit stress activation of the HPA axis through recruitment of GABAergic neurons, providing insights to the local circuitry and potential therapeutically-relevant mechanisms.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.