title: The Effect of Oxytocin on Social and Non-Social Behaviour and Striatal Protein Expression in C57BL/6N Mice.
abstract: Oxytocin has been suggested as a promising new treatment for neurodevelopmental disorders. However, important gaps remain in our understanding of its mode of action, in particular, to what extent oxytocin modulates social and non-social behaviours and whether its effects are generalizable across both sexes. Here we investigated the effects of a range of oxytocin doses on social and non-social behaviours in C57BL/6N mice of both sexes. As the striatum modulates social and non-social behaviours, and is implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders, we also conducted a pilot exploration of changes in striatal protein expression elicited by oxytocin. Oxytocin increased prepulse inhibition of startle but attenuated the recognition memory in male C57BL/6N mice. It increased social interaction time and suppressed the amphetamine locomotor response in both sexes. The striatum proteome following oxytocin exposure could be clearly discriminated from saline controls. With the caveat that these results are preliminary, oxytocin appeared to alter individual protein expression in directions similar to conventional anti-psychotics. The proteins affected by oxytocin could be broadly categorized as those that modulate glutamatergic, GABAergic or dopaminergic signalling and those that mediate cytoskeleton dynamics. Our results here encourage further research into the clinical application of this peptide hormone, which may potentially extend treatment options across a spectrum of neurodevelopmental conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), 1095 Jiefang Ave., Wuhan, 430030, P.R. China.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (H.K.S.A.R.), China.
authors.forename: Xiaofan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (H.K.S.A.R.), China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), 1095 Jiefang Ave., Wuhan, 430030, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (H.K.S.A.R.), China.
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (H.K.S.A.R.), China.
authors.forename: Pak Chung
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Sham
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), 1095 Jiefang Ave., Wuhan, 430030, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Bitao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (H.K.S.A.R.), China.
authors.forename: Siew Eng
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), 1095 Jiefang Ave., Wuhan, 430030, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Grainne Mary
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: McAlonan
mesh_terms: D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D004298:Dopamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D017072:Neostriatum / Q000187:drug effects*; D065886:Neurodevelopmental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin; D000661:Amphetamine; D004298:Dopamine