title: The role of oxytocin in male and female reproductive behavior.
abstract: Oxytocin (OT) is a nonapeptide with an impressive variety of physiological functions. Among them, the 'prosocial' effects have been discussed in several recent reviews, but the direct effects on male and female sexual behavior did receive much less attention so far. As our contribution to honor the lifelong interest of Berend Olivier in the control mechanisms of sexual behavior, we decided to explore the role of OT in the present review. In the successive sections, some physiological mechanisms and the 'pair-bonding' effects of OT will be discussed, followed by sections about desire, female appetitive and copulatory behavior, including lordosis and orgasm. At the male side, the effects on erection and ejaculation are reviewed, followed by a section about 'premature ejaculation' and a possible role of OT in its treatment. In addition to OT, serotonin receives some attention as one of the main mechanisms controlling the effects of OT. In the succeeding sections, the importance of OT for 'the fruits of labor' is discussed, as it plays an important role in both maternal and paternal behavior. Finally, we pay attention to an intriguing brain area, the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMHvl), apparently functioning in both sexual and aggressive behavior, which are at first view completely opposite behavioral systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychopharmacology, Division of Pharmacology, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Anatomy, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: jan.veening@radboudumc.nl.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Veening
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychopharmacology, Division of Pharmacology, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Waldinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychopharmacology, Division of Pharmacology, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Korte
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychopharmacology, Division of Pharmacology, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Olivier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000502:physiology*; D010332:Paternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D043762:Reproductive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D014697:Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: Ejaculation; Maternal behavior; Oxytocin; Paternal behavior; Reproductive behavior; Ventromedial hypothalamus