Oxytocin Removes Estrous Female vs. Male Preference of Virgin Male Rats: Mediation of the Supraoptic Nucleus Via Olfactory Bulbs.

ABSTRACT: Social functions of oxytocin (OT) have been explored extensively; however, relationship between the effect of intranasally applied OT (nasal OT) on the social preference (SP) and intracerebral actions of endogenous OT remains unclear. To resolve this question, we first observed effects of nasal OT on the SP of virgin young adult male rats toward unfamiliar virgin estrous female (EF) vs. virgin male rats. The results showed that the test male rats exhibited significantly more times and longer duration accessing the female than the male, which were acutely eliminated by nasal OT. Then, we examined the approaches mediating nasal OT effects on the activity of potential brain targets in Western blots and found that nasal OT activated the olfactory bulbs (OBs) and the supraoptic nucleus (SON), b

SUBMITTER: Liu XY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5660071 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature