ArticleNeuron2023
Oxytocin promotes prefrontal population activity via the PVN-PFC pathway to regulate pain.
Article in Neuron, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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44 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the efficacy of intranasal oxytocin (OXT) for anxiety and stress-related disorders through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study: a systematic review.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2025Pooled it
- Whole-Brain Monosynaptic Inputs and Outputs of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Neurons of the Paraventricular Nucleus of the Hypothalamus in Male Mice.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- A brainstem pathway underlying vagal modulation of somatic pain and affective states.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Hypothalamic Oxytocin Neuronal Activation Induces Bipolar-Like Mood Changes in Mice in a Sex- and Dosage-Dependent Manner.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Article
- PVNAdvanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Article
- Oxytocin facilitates social behavior of female rats via selective modulation of interneurons in the medial prefrontal cortex.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Oxytocin attenuates isolation-evoked emotional and social behavioral dysregulation through neural, immune, and microbiota mechanisms.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Autism-like behavior Increases with age and is predated by molecular changes in Arid1b haploinsufficient mice.Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Acute and chronic stress differentially regulate pain via distinct ensembles in the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Reviewing the Peripheral and Central Mechanisms of Visceral Hypersensitivity in Intestinal Disorders.International journal of medical sciences · 2026Review
- Decreased Oxytocin Mediates PVN-CA2 and PVN-PrL in Sleep Deprivation-Induced Social Memory Deficits.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Recent progress in chronic pain-related negative emotions and cognitive dysfunction: insights into the mechanisms underlying neural circuitry.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Review
- Adipose Tissue and Central Nervous System Crosstalk: Roles in Pain and Cognitive Dysfunction.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Three-dimensional quantification of oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus reveals sex- and subregion-specific differences in two genetic mouse models of autism.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Hypothalamic functional connectivity, depressive symptoms, and post-treatment SOREMPs in narcolepsy type 1: links to sleep latency and mediation mechanisms.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Characterization of a rat model expressing Cre recombinase in oxytocinergic neurons: NTac:SD-OxtNeuroscience · 2025Article
- Compromised PGF2α signaling in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus contributes to the central sensitization of the nitroglycerin-induced chronic migraine in male mice.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Article
- Complexity of the Hypothalamic Oxytocin System and its Involvement in Brain Functions and Diseases.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Review
- Social Exclusion Amplifies Behavioral Responses to Physical Pain via Insular Neuromodulation.Research square · 2025Article
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13 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
Neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) can provide top-down regulation of sensory-affective experiences such as pain. Bottom-up modulation of sensory coding in the PFC, however, remains poorly understood. Here, we examined how oxytocin (OT) signaling from the hypothalamus regulates nociceptive coding in the PFC. In vivo time-lapse endoscopic calcium imaging in freely behaving rats showed that OT selectively enhanced population activity in the prelimbic PFC in response to nociceptive inputs. This population response resulted from the reduction of evoked GABAergic inhibition and manifested as elevated functional connectivity involving pain-responsive neurons. Direct inputs from OT-releasing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus are crucial to maintaining this prefrontal nociceptive response. Activation of the prelimbic PFC by OT or direct optogenetic stimulation of oxytocinergic PVN projections reduced acute and chronic pain. These results suggest that oxytocinergic signaling in the PVN-PFC circuit constitutes a key mechanism to regulate cortical sensory processing.
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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.