The endometrial oxytocin receptor occupies a central point in the choice between luteolysis and pregnancy in ruminants. Receptor expression determines the time at which luteolysis occurs in nonpregnant animals, and thereby determines the duration of the oestrous cycle. Inhibition of receptor expression by trophoblast interferon (IFN) blocks the process of luteal regression and leads to continued progesterone secretion and the successful growth of the conceptus. Trophoblast IFN is probably required from the time of normal luteolysis during the cycle until luteal oxytocin concentrations of pregnancy decline, thus removing the stimulatory mechanism for the release of the episodes of prostaglandin F2 alpha required for luteolysis.
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Neuropharmacology
January 2025
Neurosciences PhD Program, School of Pharmacy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, United States; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, United States. Electronic address:
In humans, grief is characterized by intense sadness, intrusive thoughts of the deceased, and intense longing for reunion with the deceased. Human fMRI studies show hyperactivity in emotional pain and motivational centers of the brain when an individual is reminded of a deceased attachment figure, but the molecular underpinnings of these changes in activity are unknown. Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), which establish lifelong social bonds between breeding pairs, also display distress and motivational shifts during periods of prolonged social loss, providing a model to investigate these behavioral and molecular changes at a mechanistic level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBest Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol
September 2024
Center for Reproductive Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, USA. Electronic address:
Uterotonics are the mainstay of management for postpartum haemorrhage and an understanding of their use is essential for the obstetric anaesthetist. First-line uterotonics comprise oxytocin and carbetocin, which act on the oxytocin receptor, and recent research has shown that lower doses of first-line uterotonics can be used to adequate effect. The oxytocin receptor is known to undergo desensitisation with exposure to the agonist over time and with increasing concentrations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Endocrinol (Lausanne)
January 2025
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States.
The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) and its receptor (OXTR) have been shown to play an important role in glucose metabolism, and pancreatic islets express this ligand and receptor. In the current study, OXTR expression was identified in α-, β-, and δ-cells of the pancreatic islet by RNA hybridization, and OXT protein expression was observed only in β-cells. In order to examine the contribution of islet OXT/OXTR in glycemic control and islet β-cell heath, we developed a β-cell specific OXTR knock-out (β-KO) mouse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Mol Cell Biol
January 2025
Faculty of Science, School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Background: Oxytocin function is associated with a range of human traits and is often indexed by common polymorphisms of the receptor gene OXTR. Little is known however about the functional significance of these polymorphisms.
Objectives: To examine the effects of common polymorphisms of OXTR on transcription expression in human neural cells.
Neuro Endocrinol Lett
December 2024
Department of Pharmacology, Showa University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Objectives: We aimed to investigate the effect of hand therapy (HT) on oxytocin and oxytocin receptor expression in a chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) model mouse.
Methods: CIPN model mouse was induced by intraperitoneal injection of paclitaxel (PTX; 4 mg/kg) on days 0, 2, 4 and 6 of the study. HT was performed on the CIPN mice once daily for 14 consecutive days, starting on day 8 after the PTX injection.
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