Choleris Elena, Devidze Nino, Kavaliers Martin, Pfaff Donald W
Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
Prog Brain Res. 2008;170:291-303. doi: 10.1016/S0079-6123(08)00424-X.
Oestrogens (E) influence the activity of oxytocin (OT) producing neurons and heighten the rate of transcription of the oxytocin receptor (OTR) gene. Working through synergistic activities of two different oestrogen receptors (ERs), likely gene duplication products, in the hypothalamus and amygdala, E supports social recognition by mice. As part of social recognition and approach, it is important for mice to assess the risks of social interactions, thus to reduce the social anxiety. Here we argue that hyperactivity in ascending central nervous system arousal systems would work in the opposite direction: increasing social anxiety by potentiating fear-related mechanisms in the amygdala. In humans, such increased social anxiety might account for some features of autism.
雌激素（E）影响产生催产素（OT）的神经元的活性，并提高催产素受体（OTR）基因的转录速率。通过下丘脑和杏仁核中两种不同雌激素受体（ERs）（可能是基因复制产物）的协同活动，E支持小鼠的社会识别。作为社会识别和接近行为的一部分，小鼠评估社会互动的风险以减少社交焦虑很重要。在这里，我们认为中枢神经系统上行唤醒系统的过度活跃会起到相反的作用：通过增强杏仁核中与恐惧相关的机制来增加社交焦虑。在人类中，这种社交焦虑的增加可能解释了自闭症的一些特征。
