Lee Heon-Jin, Macbeth Abbe H, Pagani Jerome H, Young W Scott
Section on Neural Gene Expression, NIMH, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Prog Neurobiol. 2009 Jun;88(2):127-51. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2009.04.001. Epub 2009 Apr 10.
Oxytocin (Oxt) is a nonapeptide hormone best known for its role in lactation and parturition. Since 1906 when its uterine-contracting properties were described until 50 years later when its sequence was elucidated, research has focused on its peripheral roles in reproduction. Only over the past several decades have researchers focused on what functions Oxt might have in the brain, the subject of this review. Immunohistochemical studies revealed that magnocellular neurons of the hypothalamic paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei are the neurons of origin for the Oxt released from the posterior pituitary. Smaller cells in various parts of the brain, as well as release from magnocellular dendrites, provide the Oxt responsible for modulating various behaviors at its only identified receptor. Although Oxt is implicated in a variety of "non-social" behaviors, such as learning, anxiety, feeding and pain perception, it is Oxt's roles in various social behaviors that have come to the fore recently. Oxt is important for social memory and attachment, sexual and maternal behavior, and aggression. Recent work implicates Oxt in human bonding and trust as well. Human disorders characterized by aberrant social interactions, such as autism and schizophrenia, may also involve Oxt expression. Many, if not most, of Oxt's functions, from social interactions (affiliation, aggression) and sexual behavior to eventual parturition, lactation and maternal behavior, may be viewed as specifically facilitating species propagation.
催产素（Oxt）是一种九肽激素，因其在泌乳和分娩中的作用而最为人所知。从1906年描述其子宫收缩特性到50年后阐明其序列，研究一直集中在其在生殖中的外周作用。直到过去几十年，研究人员才开始关注催产素在大脑中可能具有的功能，这也是本综述的主题。免疫组织化学研究表明，下丘脑室旁核和视上核的大细胞神经元是垂体后叶释放的催产素的起源神经元。大脑各部位的较小细胞以及大细胞树突的释放，提供了负责在其唯一已确定的受体上调节各种行为的催产素。尽管催产素与多种“非社交”行为有关，如学习、焦虑、进食和疼痛感知，但它在各种社交行为中的作用最近才受到关注。催产素对社交记忆和依恋、性行为和母性行为以及攻击行为都很重要。最近的研究表明催产素也与人与人之间的联系和信任有关。以异常社交互动为特征的人类疾病，如自闭症和精神分裂症，也可能涉及催产素的表达。催产素的许多功能，从社交互动（归属、攻击）和性行为到最终的分娩、泌乳和母性行为，即使不是大多数，也可以被视为特别有助于物种繁殖。
