Department of Behavioural and Molecular Neurobiology, Institute of Zoology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2020 Apr 8;11:186. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2020.00186. eCollection 2020.
The neuromodulator oxytocin, since its first synthesis by du Vigneaud in 1953, has mainly been associated with beneficial physiological effects, as well as positive social and emotional behaviors. This overall positive picture of oxytocin as the "love-, cuddle-, or bonding-hormone" has repeatedly been challenged since then. Oxytocin-induced effects that would be perceived as negative by the individual, such as increased anxiety or potentiation of stress-induced ACTH release, as well as the regulation of negative approach-related emotions, such as envy and schadenfreude (gloating) have been described. The general consent is that oxytocin, instead of acting unidirectional, induces changes in the salience network to shift the emphasis of emotional contexts, and therefore can, e.g., produce both anxiolytic as well as anxiogenic behavioral outcomes. However, the underlying mechanisms leading to alterations in the salience network are still unclear. With the aim to understand the manifold effects of oxytocin on a cellular/molecular level, a set of oxytocin receptor-coupled signaling cascades and downstream effectors regulating transcription and translation has been identified. Those oxytocin-driven effectors, such as MEF2 and CREB, are known modulators of the neuronal and glial cytoarchitecture. We hypothesize that, by determining cellular morphology and connectivity, MEF2 is one of the key factors that might contribute to the diverse behavioral effects of oxytocin.
神经调节剂催产素自 1953 年由 du Vigneaud 首次合成以来，主要与有益的生理效应以及积极的社会和情绪行为相关联。这种将催产素视为“爱情、拥抱或结合激素”的整体积极形象，自那时以来就一直受到挑战。已经描述了催产素诱导的个体可能会认为是负面的影响，例如增加焦虑或增强应激诱导的 ACTH 释放，以及调节负面接近相关的情绪，如嫉妒和幸灾乐祸（幸灾乐祸）。普遍的共识是，催产素不是单向作用，而是诱导显着性网络的变化，从而改变情绪背景的重点，因此可以产生例如焦虑和焦虑行为的结果。然而，导致显着性网络变化的潜在机制仍不清楚。为了在细胞/分子水平上了解催产素的多种作用，已经确定了一组催产素受体偶联的信号级联和调节转录和翻译的下游效应物。那些由催产素驱动的效应物，如 MEF2 和 CREB，是神经元和神经胶质细胞形态的已知调节剂。我们假设，通过确定细胞形态和连接性，MEF2 是可能导致催产素多种行为效应的关键因素之一。
