Febo Marcelo, Numan Michael, Ferris Craig F
Department of Psychiatry, Center for Comparative NeuroImaging, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655, USA.
J Neurosci. 2005 Dec 14;25(50):11637-44. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3604-05.2005.
Oxytocin is released in the maternal brain during breastfeeding and may help strengthen the mother-infant relationship. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine whether oxytocin modulates brain activity in postpartum day 4-8 dams receiving suckling stimulation. During imaging sessions, dams were exposed to pup suckling before and after administration of an oxytocin receptor antagonist. Another group of dams received oxytocin alone. Changes in brain activation in response to suckling closely matched that elicited by oxytocin administration. The overlapping brain areas included the olfactory system, nucleus accumbens, insular cortex, prefrontal cortex, ventral tegmental area, cortical amygdala, and several cortical and hypothalamic nuclei. Blockade of oxytocin receptors largely attenuated activation in these regions. The data suggest that oxytocin may strengthen mother-infant bond formation partly by acting through brain areas involved in regulating olfactory discrimination, emotions, and reward.
催产素在母乳喂养期间会在母体大脑中释放，可能有助于加强母婴关系。在此，我们使用功能磁共振成像来确定催产素是否会调节产后第4至8天接受哺乳刺激的母鼠的大脑活动。在成像过程中，母鼠在给予催产素受体拮抗剂之前和之后接受幼崽哺乳。另一组母鼠仅接受催产素。对哺乳反应的大脑激活变化与给予催产素引起的变化密切匹配。重叠的脑区包括嗅觉系统、伏隔核、岛叶皮质、前额叶皮质、腹侧被盖区、皮质杏仁核以及几个皮质和下丘脑核团。催产素受体的阻断在很大程度上减弱了这些区域的激活。数据表明，催产素可能部分通过作用于参与调节嗅觉辨别、情绪和奖赏的脑区来加强母婴联结的形成。
