Petersson Maria, Uvnäs-Moberg Kerstin
Department of Molecular Medicine, Endocrine and Diabetes Unit, Karolinska Institutet/Karolinska Hospital, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
Neurosci Lett. 2003 Jun 5;343(2):97-100. doi: 10.1016/s0304-3940(03)00334-3.
The present study investigated the effects of oxytocin treatment on hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors. Oxytocin (1 mg/kg s.c.) was administered once a day for 5 days to male Sprague-Dawley rats. The animals were sacrificed 1 day after treatment and expression of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor (GR and MR) mRNA in the dorsal hippocampus was measured with in situ hybridization. The oxytocin treatment decreased GR mRNA expression in CA1+2 and the dentate gyrus (P<0.05), tended to decrease GR mRNA expression in CA3 (P=0.07), and increased MR mRNA expression in the dentate gyrus (P<0.05). These findings demonstrate that systemic oxytocin treatment induces changes in the hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors. Thus, oxytocin may modulate the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis also at the hippocampal level in rats.
本研究调查了催产素治疗对海马糖皮质激素受体的影响。对雄性斯普拉格-道利大鼠每天皮下注射一次催产素（1毫克/千克），持续5天。治疗后1天处死动物，用原位杂交法测量背侧海马中糖皮质激素和盐皮质激素受体（GR和MR）mRNA的表达。催产素治疗使CA1+2和齿状回中的GR mRNA表达降低（P<0.05），CA3中的GR mRNA表达有降低趋势（P=0.07），齿状回中的MR mRNA表达增加（P<0.05）。这些发现表明，全身性催产素治疗可诱导海马糖皮质激素受体发生变化。因此，催产素可能在大鼠海马水平也调节下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴的活性。
