Pervasive social deficits, but normal parturition, in oxytocin receptor-deficient mice

Takayanagi, Yuki; Yoshida, Masahide; Bielsky, Isadora F.; Ross, Heather E.; Kawamata, Masaki; Onaka, Tatsushi; Yanagisawa, Teruyuki; Kimura, Tadashi; Matzuk, Martin M.; Young, Larry J.; Nishimori, Katsuhiko

doi:10.1073/pnas.0505312102

Pervasive social deficits, but normal parturition, in oxytocin receptor-deficient mice

The oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and its ligand, oxytocin (OXT), regulate reproductive physiology (i.e., parturition and lactation) and sociosexual behaviors. To define the essential functions of OXTR, we generated mice with a null mutation in the Oxtr gene ( Oxtr -/- ) and compared them with OXT-def…