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Reduced Aggressive Behaviour in Mice with Targeted Disruption of the Oxytocin Gene
Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) has been reported to mediate aggressive and affiliative behaviours in several species. The behavioural role of OT has been established with physiological manipulations that potentially affected blood pressure, which may have indirectly affected the behaviours under study. To provide converging evidence of the physiological role of OT in aggressive behavior, wild type (WT), heterozygous (OT-/+), and homozygous (OT-/-) mutant mice were tested in two aggression paradigms. In general, there was no significant difference in aggressiveness between WT and OT-/+ mice. However, there were significant reductions in the duration of aggressive behaviors among OT-/- animals, especially in agonistic encounters within neutral arenas. The OT-/- mice did not exhibit any sensorimotor deficits or display any altered general anxiety levels that may have accounted for the observed reduction in aggressive behavior. These data indicate that aggression is mediated in part by OT in mice and that increased aggressiveness is not an obligatory phenotypic result of targeted genetic disruption of any gene.
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In the citing paper
“In mice, there is evidence that in utero exposure to Oxt is important for normal intermale aggressive behavior in adulthood.”
From Oxytocin during Development: Possible Organizational Effects on Behavior (2015) · cites this paper as [98]
In the citing paper
“Specifically, male Oxt−/− mice that are born to null mutant dams show heightened aggressive behavior in adulthood (97, 98).”
From Oxytocin during Development: Possible Organizational Effects on Behavior (2015) · cites this paper as [98]
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The oxytocin receptor system: structure, function, and regulation
Gimpl, G., & Fahrenholz, F. (2001) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.2001.81.2.629 · Cited by 3,089
“Moreover, disruption of the OT gene in mice showed reduced aggression behaviors in some tests (130, 617).”
BackgroundLandgraf, R., & Neumann, I. D. (2004) · Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2004.05.001 · Cited by 1,059
Oxytocin: The Great Facilitator of Life
Lee, H.-J., Macbeth, A. H., Pagani, J., & Young, W. S. (2009) · Progress in Neurobiology · doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2009.04.001 · Cited by 1,037
“One line with inactivation of the Oxt gene is mildly less aggressive than WT or HET controls, and shows no difference in anxiety behavior in an open field (DeVries et al., 1997).”
Self-citationNeural mechanisms of aggression
Nelson, R. J., & Trainor, B. C. (2007) · Nature reviews. Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2174 · Cited by 1,046
Self-citationThe oxytocin receptor: from intracellular signaling to behavior
Jurek, B., & Neumann, I. D. (2018) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00031.2017 · Cited by 999
Metadata
- Authors
- DeVries, A. C., Young III, W. S., & Nelson, R. J.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- DeVries, A. Courtney
- Venue
- Journal of Neuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1997-05
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 363-368
- ISSN
- 0953-8194 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2826
- OpenAlex
- W1989283759
- Cited by
- 134
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 7.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Syracuse University
- National Institutes of Health (5r01hd022201-06)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-57535, R01MH057535)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD 22201)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
- Keywords
- oxytocin, aggression, gene disruption, affiliative behavior, agonistic encounters, anxiety, sensorimotor deficits, blood pressure
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Animals, Exploratory Behavior, Genetic Code, Heterozygote, Homozygote, Oxytocin, Psychomotor Performance, Mice, Knockout, Mice
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