Jang Minji, Jung Taesub, Kang Miseon, Kim Jeongyeon, Noh Jihyun
Department of Science Education, Dankook University, Yongin-si, Republic of Korea.
Korea Brain Research Institute (KBRI), Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Anim Cells Syst (Seoul). 2021 Oct 31;25(6):369-376. doi: 10.1080/19768354.2021.1995485. eCollection 2021.
Oxytocin (OT) is considered beneficial to mental health owing to its anxiolytic, prosocial, and anti-stress effects; however, the adverse effects of OT have been controversial, such as its potentially anxiogenic actions. Although OT influences drug abuse and reciprocally affects vulnerability to drug use, the relationship between OT's anxiogenic working and nicotine preference intake has not been clearly defined. To clarify this issue, the effect of acute peripheral administration of OT on anxiety and nicotine preference was investigated in juvenile male rats. Anxiogenic behaviors were noticeably increased in OT-administrated rats, with an increase in serum corticosterone levels. Moreover, increased anxiety-like behaviors and corticosterone levels were observed in the OT analog carbetocin-injected rats. In the nicotine preference test, the rats' aversive responses to initial nicotine choice and preference were not significantly different between saline-injected and OT-injected rats. However, when administered with OT, there was a significant negative correlation between anxiety-like behavior and low-dose nicotine consumption. Collectively, these results provide evidence that acute OT exposure could induce anxiogenic behavior with corticosterone augmentation, contributing to the attenuation of nicotine preference. This suggests that both aspects of OT, as well as their benefits and drawbacks, should be considered.
催产素（OT）因其抗焦虑、亲社会和抗应激作用而被认为对心理健康有益；然而，OT的不良反应一直存在争议，比如其潜在的致焦虑作用。尽管OT会影响药物滥用且相互影响对药物使用的易感性，但OT的致焦虑作用与尼古丁偏好摄取之间的关系尚未明确界定。为阐明这一问题，研究了在幼年雄性大鼠中急性外周给予OT对焦虑和尼古丁偏好的影响。给予OT的大鼠中致焦虑行为显著增加，血清皮质酮水平升高。此外，在注射OT类似物卡贝缩宫素的大鼠中也观察到焦虑样行为和皮质酮水平增加。在尼古丁偏好试验中，注射生理盐水和注射OT的大鼠对初始尼古丁选择和偏好的厌恶反应没有显著差异。然而，当给予OT时，焦虑样行为与低剂量尼古丁消耗之间存在显著负相关。总体而言，这些结果提供了证据，表明急性OT暴露可通过增加皮质酮诱导致焦虑行为，从而导致尼古丁偏好减弱。这表明OT的两个方面及其利弊都应予以考虑。
