NORMENT Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2022 Jul;47(8):1550-1560. doi: 10.1038/s41386-022-01305-5. Epub 2022 Mar 28.
Oxytocin plays a vital role in social behavior and homeostatic processes, with animal models indicating that oxytocin receptor (OXTR) expression patterns in the brain influence behavior and physiology. However, the developmental trajectory of OXTR gene expression is unclear. By analyzing gene expression data in human post-mortem brain samples, from the prenatal period to late adulthood, we demonstrate distinct patterns of OXTR gene expression in the developing brain, with increasing OXTR expression along the course of the prenatal period culminating in a peak during early childhood. This early life OXTR expression peak pattern appears slightly earlier in a comparative macaque sample, which is consistent with the relative immaturity of the human brain during early life compared to macaques. We also show that a network of genes with strong spatiotemporal couplings with OXTR is enriched in several psychiatric illness and body composition phenotypes. Taken together, these results demonstrate that oxytocin signaling plays an important role in a diverse set of psychological and somatic processes across the lifespan.
催产素在社会行为和体内平衡过程中起着至关重要的作用，动物模型表明，大脑中的催产素受体 (OXTR) 表达模式会影响行为和生理。然而，OXTR 基因表达的发育轨迹尚不清楚。通过分析人类死后大脑样本中的基因表达数据，从产前到成年后期，我们证明了大脑发育过程中 OXTR 基因表达存在不同的模式，随着产前过程的进行，OXTR 表达逐渐增加，在儿童早期达到高峰。在比较的猕猴样本中，这种早期生命 OXTR 表达高峰模式出现得稍早一些，这与人类大脑在早期生命阶段相对于猕猴的相对不成熟相一致。我们还表明，与 OXTR 具有强烈时空耦合关系的一组基因在几种精神疾病和身体成分表型中富集。总之，这些结果表明，催产素信号在整个生命周期的一系列心理和躯体过程中起着重要作用。
