AI Article Synopsis
- Oxytocin (Oxt), a nonapeptide, plays a key role in influencing behavior across various mammalian species, with its effects identified through pharmacological studies since its discovery.
- Targeted genetic disruptions in mice, focusing on both Oxt and its receptor, have advanced scientific understanding of Oxt’s impacts on behavior.
- This article reviews how these genetically modified mice have contributed to insights on social recognition memory, maternal behavior, aggression, and other nonsocial behaviors.
Article Abstract
It is well established that the nonapeptide oxytocin (Oxt) is important for the neural modulation of behaviors in many mammalian species. Since its discovery in 1906 and synthesis in the early 1950s, elegant pharmacological work has helped identify specific neural substrates on which Oxt exerts its effects. More recently, mice with targeted genetic disruptions of the Oxt system-i.e., both the peptide and its receptor (the Oxtr)-have further defined Oxt's actions and laid some important scientific groundwork for studies in other species. In this article, we highlight the scientific contributions that various mouse knockouts of the Oxt system have made to our understanding of Oxt's modulation of behavior. We specifically focus on how the use of these mice has shed light on our understanding of social recognition memory, maternal behavior, aggression, and several nonsocial behaviors. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 77: 190-201, 2017.
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