Oxytocin does not act locally in the hypothalamus to elicit norepinephrine release.
An in vitro brain slice preparation was used to determine whether facilitatory effects of systemically administered oxytocin on hypothalamic norepinephrine release result from direct action of the neuropeptide on noradrenergic terminals. When oxytocin was superfused onto hypothalamic slices from ovariectomized control and ovariectomized, hormone-treated female rats, the neuropeptide failed to influence either basal or electrically evoked release of 3H-norepinephrine. Thus, it is likely that oxytocin facilitates hypothalamic norepinephrine release by a peripheral mechanism, perhaps vaginocervical contraction.
Etgen
A M
AM
Department of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism*; D010053:Ovary / Q000502:physiology; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D010121:Oxytocin; D009638:Norepinephrine