Effects of estrogen on oxytocin receptor messenger ribonucleic acid expression in the uterus, pituitary, and forebrain of the female rat
Abstract
Oxytocin receptors are regulated during parturition and lactation. Gonadal steroids are thought to be key players in this regulation. It is not well documented how oxytocin receptor gene expression is regulated in the CNS. In this study we analyzed potential estrogen effects on the oxytocin receptor mRNA levels in some areas integral to the limbic-hypothalamic system, namely the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH), posterior medial nucleus of amygdala (MeAmyg), and arcuate nucleus (ARC), as well as the caudate putamen (CPu), CA1 region of the hippocampus, anterior pituitary, and uterine tissue of ovariectomized (OVX) female rats. By in situ hybridization we observed a 4.4-fold increase in oxytocin receptor mRNA levels in the VMH after 48 h of estrogen treatment when compared to OVX rats. Smaller increases were observed in the MeAmyg, hippocampus, and anterior pituitary (3.18, 1.76, and 2.55, respectively). No changes in oxytocin receptor mRNA levels were observed in the CPu or ARC after estrogen treatment. A similar finding resulted from slot-blot analysis of total mRNA extracts. In uterine tissue, 48 h of estrogen treatment increased oxytocin receptor mRNA level in the myometrium (3.13-fold). No changes in oxytocin receptor mRNA levels were observed after 12 and 24 h of estrogen treatment. These findings suggest that the estrogenic regulation of oxytocin receptor binding in both CNS and uterine tissues may in part be mediated by de novo synthesis of oxytocin receptor mRNA or by alterations in the stability of oxytocin receptor gene transcripts.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
OXT effects in women may vary as a function of steroid hormones.
“Clearly, OXT effects in women may vary as a function of steroid hormones, which influence plasma levels of the peptide (Chiodera et al., 1991), regulate the expression of the OXTR gene (Quinones-Jenab et al., 1997) and affect OXTR function through a non-genomic mechanism (Grazzini et al., 1998).”
From Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face (2016) · cites this paper as Quinones-Jenab et al., 1997
Estradiol treatment in mice and rats results in a several-fold increase in OXTR mRNA in the brain.
“an estradiol treatment in mice and rats results in a several-fold increase in OXTR mRNA in the brain (Quinones-Jenab et al., 1997;Young et al., 1998).”
From Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face (2016) · cites this paper as Quinones-Jenab et al., 1997
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The oxytocin receptor: from intracellular signaling to behavior
Jurek, B., & Neumann, I. D. (2018) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00031.2017 · Cited by 999 · see citing works
Sex differences in autism spectrum disorder: a review
Ferri, S. L., Abel, T., & Brodkin, E. S. (2018) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-018-0874-2 · Cited by 392 · see citing works
Membrane-Initiated Actions of Estrogens in Neuroendocrinology: Emerging Principles
Vasudevan, N., & Pfaff, D. W. (2007) · Endocrine Reviews · doi:10.1210/er.2005-0021 · Cited by 231 · see citing works
Self-citationOxytocin and social motivation
Gordon, I., Martin, C., Feldman, R., & Leckman, J. F. (2011) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2011.07.007 · Cited by 211 · see citing works
Neuroendocrinology of social information processing in rats and mice
Choleris, E., Clipperton-Allen, A. E., Phan, A., & Kavaliers, M. (2009) · Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2009.05.003 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Dumais, K. M., Bredewold, R., Mayer, T. E., & Veenema, A. H. (2013) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.08.012 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Oxytocin increases amygdala reactivity to threatening scenes in females
Lischke, A., Gamer, M., Berger, C., Grossmann, A., Hauenstein, K., Heinrichs, M., Herpertz, S. C., & Domes, G. (2012) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.01.011 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Dynamic changes in oxytocin receptor expression and activation at parturition in the rat brain
Meddle, S. L., Bishop, V. R., Gkoumassi, E., van Leeuwen, F. W., & Douglas, A. J. (2007) · Endocrinology · doi:10.1210/en.2007-0615 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Hormonal contraceptives suppress oxytocin-induced brain reward responses to the partner’s face
Scheele, D., Plota, J., Stoffel-Wagner, B., Maier, W., & Hurlemann, R. (2016) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsv157 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
“, 1991), regulate the expression of the OXTR gene (Quinones-Jenab et al., 1997) and affect OXTR function through a non-genomic mechanism (Grazzini et al.”
BackgroundOxytocin and vasopressin: genetics and behavioral implications
Caldwell, H. K., & Young, W. S. (2006) · Handbook of Neurochemistry and Molecular Neurobiology · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-30381-9_25 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Oxytocin’s effect on resting-state functional connectivity varies by age and sex
Ebner, N. C., Chen, H., Porges, E., Lin, T., Fischer, H., Feifel, D., & Cohen, R. A. (2016) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.03.013 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Steroidal/neuropeptide interactions in hypothalamus and amygdala related to social anxiety
CHOLERIS, E., DEVIDZE, N., KAVALIERS, M., & PFAFF, D. (2008) · Progress in Brain Research · doi:10.1016/s0079-6123(08)00424-x · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Self-citationKudwa, A. E., McGivern, R. F., & Handa, R. J. (2014) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.03.004 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Griffin, G. D., Ferri‐Kolwicz, S. L., Reyes, B. A. S., Van Bockstaele, E. J., & Flanagan‐Cato, L. M. (2010) · Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.22470 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Coria-Avila, G. A., Herrera-Covarrubias, D., García, L. I., Toledo, R., Hernández, M. E., Paredes-Ramos, P., Corona-Morales, A. A., & Manzo, J. (2022) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani12243589 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Quiñones-Jenab, V., Jenab, S., Ogawa, S., Adan, R. A. M., Burbach, P. H., & Pfaff, D. W.
- Affiliations
- Rockefeller University (US)
- ORCID
- Ogawa, Sonoko
- Venue
- Neuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- S. Karger AG
- Published
- 2008-04-09
- Volume
- 65
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 9-17
- ISSN
- 0028-3835 (ISSN-L)
- 1423-0194
- OpenAlex
- W2014086109
- Cited by
- 134
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 10.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HO-05751)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA07274, T32DA007274)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Estrogen and related hormone effects
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Keywords
- oxytocin receptor, estrogen, mRNA expression, ventromedial hypothalamus, arcuate nucleus, caudate-putamen, hippocampus, anterior pituitary, uterus, myometrium, ovariectomy, gene transcription, mRNA stability, female rats
- MeSH terms
- Amygdala, Animals, Estradiol, Female, Hypothalamus, Middle, Ovariectomy, Pituitary Gland, RNA, Messenger, Uterus, Prosencephalon, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, In Situ Hybridization, Receptors, Oxytocin, Rats
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
