PMID- 23624810
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20140506
LR  - 20211021
IS  - 1432-2072 (Electronic)
IS  - 0033-3158 (Linking)
VI  - 229
IP  - 4
DP  - 2013 Oct
TI  - Antiaggressive activity of central oxytocin in male rats.
PG  - 639-51
LID - 10.1007/s00213-013-3124-7 [doi]
AB  - RATIONALE: A substantial body of research suggests that the neuropeptide oxytocin 
      promotes social affiliative behaviors in a wide range of animals including 
      humans. However, its antiaggressive action has not been unequivocally 
      demonstrated in male laboratory rodents. OBJECTIVE: Our primary goal was to 
      examine the putative serenic effect of oxytocin in a feral strain (wild type 
      Groningen, WTG) of rats that generally show a much broader variation and higher 
      levels of intermale aggression than commonly used laboratory strains of rats. 
      METHODS: Resident animals were intracerebroventricularly (icv) administered with 
      different doses of synthetic oxytocin and oxytocin receptor antagonist, alone and 
      in combination, in order to manipulate brain oxytocin functioning and to assess 
      their behavioral response to an intruder. RESULTS: Our data clearly demonstrate 
      that acute icv administered oxytocin produces dose-dependent and 
      receptor-selective changes in social behavior, reducing aggression and 
      potentiating social exploration. These antiaggressive effects are stronger in the 
      more offensive rats. On the other hand, administration of an oxytocin receptor 
      antagonist tends to increase (nonsignificantly) aggression only in low-medium 
      aggressive animals. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that transiently enhancing 
      brain oxytocin function has potent antiaggressive effects, whereas its 
      attenuation tends to enhance aggressiveness. In addition, a possible inverse 
      relationship between trait aggression and endogenous oxytocinergic signaling is 
      revealed. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of brain oxytocinergic 
      signaling for regulating intermale offensive aggression. This study supports the 
      suggestion that oxytocin receptor agonists could clinically be useful for curbing 
      heightened aggression seen in a range of neuropsychiatric disorders like 
      antisocial personality disorder, autism, and addiction.
FAU - Calcagnoli, Federica
AU  - Calcagnoli F
AD  - Department of Behavioral Physiology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 
      9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands, f.calcagnoli@rug.nl.
FAU - de Boer, Sietse F
AU  - de Boer SF
FAU - Althaus, Monika
AU  - Althaus M
FAU - den Boer, Johan A
AU  - den Boer JA
FAU - Koolhaas, Jaap M
AU  - Koolhaas JM
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20130428
PL  - Germany
TA  - Psychopharmacology (Berl)
JT  - Psychopharmacology
JID - 7608025
RN  - 0 (Receptors, Oxytocin)
RN  - 50-56-6 (Oxytocin)
SB  - IM
MH  - Aggression/*drug effects
MH  - Animals
MH  - Behavior, Animal/drug effects
MH  - Brain/drug effects/*metabolism
MH  - Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
MH  - Injections, Intraventricular
MH  - Male
MH  - Oxytocin/administration & dosage/*metabolism/pharmacology
MH  - Rats
MH  - Receptors, Oxytocin/drug effects/*metabolism
MH  - Signal Transduction/drug effects
MH  - Social Behavior
EDAT- 2013/04/30 06:00
MHDA- 2014/05/07 06:00
CRDT- 2013/04/30 06:00
PHST- 2012/10/19 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/04/15 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/04/30 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/04/30 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2014/05/07 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1007/s00213-013-3124-7 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2013 Oct;229(4):639-51. doi: 
      10.1007/s00213-013-3124-7. Epub 2013 Apr 28.