Maternal oxytocin treatment at birth increases epigenetic age in male offspring.

ABSTRACT: Exogenous oxytocin (OT) is widely used to induce or augment labor with little understanding of the impact on offspring development. In rodent models, including the prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster), it has been shown that oxytocin administered to mothers can affect the nervous system of the offspring with long lasting behavioral effects especially on sociality. Here, we examined the hypothesis that perinatal oxytocin exposure could have epigenetic and transcriptomic consequences. Prairie voles were exposed to exogenous oxytocin, through injections given to the mother just prior to birth, and were studied at the time of weaning. The outcome of this study revealed increased epigenetic age in oxytocin-exposed animals compared to the saline-exposed group. Oxytocin exposure led to 900

SUBMITTER: Danoff JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10963051 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature