Using transgenic mouse models to study oxytocin's role in the facilitation of species propagation.
Oxytocin and its receptor are important for a wide range of effects, from social memory to uterine contractions. It is an evolutionarily well-conserved hormone that is particularly important in social and gregarious animals. Research on small mammals has yielded a rich literature on oxytocin's many functions. Recently a new tool has been created that has furthered our understanding of oxytocin's role in behavior: transgenic mice that lack either the ability to synthesize oxytocin or the oxytocin receptor itself. The study of these lines, while still in its infancy, is already bearing fruit and offers the promise of insight into some human disorders characterized by aberrant social behavior.
Lee
Heon-Jin
HJ
Department of Dental Microbiology, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea.
Pagani
Jerome
J
Young
W Scott
WS
D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic / Q000502:physiology*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D018045:Receptors, Oxytocin / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D012919:Social Behavior
D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D018045:Receptors, Oxytocin; D010121:Oxytocin