Tracking oxytocin functions in the rodent brain during the last 30 years: From push‐pull perfusion to chemogenetic silencing

Abstract

This is a short overview over the last thirty years of oxytocin (and vasopressin) research performed in our labs starting with attempts to quantitate the release of this nonapeptide in the rodent brain during physiological conditions such as suckling in the lactating animal. Using push‐pull perfusion and microdialysis approaches, release patterns in hypothalamic and limbic brain regions could be characterized to occur from intact neuronal structures, to be independent of peripheral secretion into blood, and to respond differentially to various stimuli, particularly those related to reproduction and stress. Parallel efforts focused on the functional impact of central oxytocin release including neuroendocrine and behavioural effects mediated by nonapeptide receptor interactions and subsequent intraneuronal signaling cascades. Using a variety of sophisticated behavioral paradigms along with pharmacological, genetic and pharmacogenetic approaches to manipulate central oxytocin release revealed multiple consequences on social behaviors, particularly social fear.

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