The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Weihui, Henan 453100, China.
Neuropeptides. 2013 Apr;47(2):93-7. doi: 10.1016/j.npep.2012.12.003. Epub 2013 Jan 30.
Oxytocin (OXT), a nonapeptide hormone of posterior pituitary, reaches the central nervous system from systemic blood circulation with a difficulty because of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The interest has been expressed in the use of the nasal route for delivery of OXT to the brain directly, exploiting the olfactory pathway. Our previous study has demonstrated that OXT in the central nervous system rather than the blood circulation plays an important role in rat pain modulation. The communication tried to investigate the interaction between the OXT and pain modulation in Chinese patients with headache to understand the OXT effect on human pain modulation. The results showed that (1) intranasal OXT could relieve the human headache in a dose-dependent manner; (2) OXT concentration in both plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) increased significantly in headache patients in relation with the pain level; and (3) there was a positive relationship between plasma and CSF OXT concentration in headache patients. The data suggested that intranasal OXT, which was delivered to the central nervous system through olfactory region, could treat human headache and OXT might be a potential drug of headache relief by intranasal administration.
催产素（OXT）是一种来自垂体后叶的九肽激素，由于血脑屏障（BBB）的存在，它从全身血液循环到达中枢神经系统较为困难。人们对利用鼻内途径将 OXT 直接递送至大脑以利用嗅觉途径产生了兴趣。我们之前的研究表明，OXT 在中枢神经系统中而不是在血液循环中对大鼠的疼痛调节起着重要作用。该研究旨在探讨中国头痛患者的 OXT 与疼痛调节之间的相互作用，以了解 OXT 对人类疼痛调节的影响。结果表明：（1）鼻内给予 OXT 可呈剂量依赖性缓解人类头痛；（2）头痛患者的血浆和脑脊液（CSF）中的 OXT 浓度与疼痛程度相关，显著升高；（3）头痛患者的血浆和 CSF 中 OXT 浓度之间呈正相关。这些数据表明，通过嗅觉区域递送至中枢神经系统的鼻内 OXT 可治疗人类头痛，并且 OXT 可能是一种通过鼻内给药缓解头痛的潜在药物。
