Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
Human and Evolutionary Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Oct 8;22(19):10859. doi: 10.3390/ijms221910859.
The neuropeptide oxytocin is produced in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus and the supraoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus. In addition to its extensively studied influence on social behavior and reproductive function, central oxytocin signaling potently reduces food intake in both humans and animal models and has potential therapeutic use for obesity treatment. In this review, we highlight rodent model research that illuminates various neural, behavioral, and signaling mechanisms through which oxytocin's anorexigenic effects occur. The research supports a framework through which oxytocin reduces food intake via amplification of within-meal physiological satiation signals rather than by altering between-meal interoceptive hunger and satiety states. We also emphasize the distributed neural sites of action for oxytocin's effects on food intake and review evidence supporting the notion that central oxytocin is communicated throughout the brain, at least in part, through humoral-like volume transmission. Finally, we highlight mechanisms through which oxytocin interacts with various energy balance-associated neuropeptide and endocrine systems (e.g., agouti-related peptide, melanin-concentrating hormone, leptin), as well as the behavioral mechanisms through which oxytocin inhibits food intake, including effects on nutrient-specific ingestion, meal size control, food reward-motivated responses, and competing motivations.
神经肽催产素由下丘脑的室旁核和视上核产生。除了其对社会行为和生殖功能的广泛研究影响外，中枢催产素信号还能强烈减少人类和动物模型的食物摄入，并且具有治疗肥胖的潜在用途。在这篇综述中，我们强调了啮齿动物模型研究，这些研究阐明了催产素产生厌食作用的各种神经、行为和信号机制。研究支持了这样一种框架，即催产素通过放大餐内生理饱腹感信号而不是通过改变餐间内感受性饥饿和饱腹感状态来减少食物摄入。我们还强调了催产素对食物摄入影响的作用部位，并回顾了支持中枢催产素通过类体液体积传递在大脑中传播的观点的证据，至少在部分程度上是这样。最后，我们强调了催产素与各种与能量平衡相关的神经肽和内分泌系统（例如，刺鼠相关肽、黑色素浓缩激素、瘦素）相互作用的机制，以及催产素抑制食物摄入的行为机制，包括对特定营养素摄入、进餐量控制、食物奖励动机反应和竞争动机的影响。
