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Oxytocin: The Neurohormone

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Advances in Clinical Toxicology
ISSN: 2577-4328
Oxytocin: The Neurohormone
Adv Clin Toxicol
Oxytocin: The Neurohormone
Tabassum Zafar* and Vinoy K Shrivastava
Department of Bioscience, Barkatullah University, India
*Corresponding author: Tabassum Zafar, Department of Bioscience, Barkatullah
University, Bhopal, India 462026, Email: tztabassumzafar@gmail.com
Abstract
Oxytocin is a peptide hormone, which serves important functions in body including labor management and lactation.
Indiction of milk ejection and easy delivery there are many other aspects of in vivo oxytocin functions.
Neurotransmission within the body is one of the important vital functions of oxytocin, which validates involvement of
oxytocin in emotional, neuronal and behaviour balance of body. Present mini review discusses important facts and
phenomenon’s associated with oxytocin.
Keywords: Oxytocin; Love Hormone; Neurohormone
Introduction
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide endocrine secretion
produced by the paraventricular nucleus of the
hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary. In
1906, Sir Henry Dale coined the term ‘Oxytocin’ for the
chemical released from posterior pituitary to promotes
‘swift birth’ by affecting the uterine contractions in
pregnant cats. After 47 years of this, Vincent du Vigneaud
had received Nobel Prize in 1955 for sequencing and
synthesizing the oxytocin [1].
Oxytocin is an evolutionarily conserved
neurohypophysial hormone, which is made up of nine
amino acids. It is almost similar to the neighbouring
hormone vasopressin except the presence of leucine as
third amino acid, while vasopressin contains an arginine
at the same [2]. Oxytocin has class I G protein-coupled
receptor with a requirement of Mg2+ and cholesterol. In
humans many peripheral organs such as kidney, heart,
thymus, pancreas, adipocytes, uterus, and brain
differentially express the oxytocin receptors [3]. The
oxytocin receptor density varies in between males and
females. Apart from humans oxytocin receptors are also
distributed in pigs, rats, sheep, bovine, mice, and rhesus
monkey [4].
Oxytocin is mainly responsible for inducing sufficient
uterine movement during the child birth and it also
induces lactation in postpartum phase. Oxytocin has
evident scientific association with various biological and
cognitive process including empathy, trust, sexual activity,
and relationship-building, social bonding, sexual
reproduction and most importantly childbirth and breast
feeding [5].
These amazing qualities of this neurohormone makes
it an interesting candidate for treatment of a number of
clinical conditions such as artificial assistance to
childbirth, depression, anxiety, autistic spectrum disorder
intestinal problems, irritable bowel syndrome etc. [6].
In aid to reproductive functions of oxytocin, it also
plays various major roles in expression of physical and
psychological characters. Oxytocin is many times
synonyms with "love hormone," and "cuddle hormone"
because it is secreted during romance, love making,
hugging and orgasm [7]. Oxytocin is an active influencer
of emotions, when oxytocin releases in the blood stream it
creates a feeling of trust, affection and social attachment.
It is assumed that the first stage of romantic attachment is
under the influence of persistently high levels of oxytocin,
Mini Review
Volume 4 Issue 1
Received Date: February 07, 2019
Published Date: February 23, 2019
DOI: 10.23880/act-16000148
Advances in Clinical Toxicology
Tabassum Zafar and Vinoy K Shrivastava. Oxytocin: The Neurohormone. Adv
Clin Toxicol 2019, 4(1): 000148.
Copyright© Tabassum Zafar and Vinoy K Shrivastava.
which remain high for about to 6 months [8,9]. High levels
of this love hormone act to facilitate the sociosexual
behaviour and attachment between the lovers. High level
of circulating oxytocin is the one of the main culprit to
create psychological romantic blues and makes the love
satisfying and pleasures. Pair bondig between adults and
lovers happens under the influence of dopaminergic
activity within the nucleus accumbens. Nucleus
accumbens of brain has a very rich in oxytocin receptor
density [10-12].
So, when the next time you feel romantic butterfly in
stomachs better to think about oxytocin. When the good
news about arrival of a baby is reached to you, think of
oxytocin. When you find someone trustworthy, think of
oxytocin. When you feel like a social butterfly, think of
oxytocin. When you are about to choose a partner, think
of oxytocin. When you express gratitude to your mother
for feeding you during the infancy, think of oxytocin,
which worth more than a hormone and versatile more
than a neurotransmitter.
References
1. Du Vigneaud V (1956) Trail of sulfur research: from
insulin to oxytocin. Science 123(3205): 967-974.
2. Farina Lipari E, Valentino B, Lipari D (1995)
Immunohistochemical research on oxytocin in the
hypothalamic accessory nuclei. Ital J Anat Embryol
100(4): 189-193.
3. Gimpl G, Fahrenholz F (2001) The oxytocin receptor
system: structure, function, and regulation. Physiol
Rev 81(2): 629-683.
4. Gimpl G, Reitz J, Brauer S, Trossen C (2008) Oxytocin
receptors: ligand binding, signalling and cholesterol
dependence. Prog Brain Res 170: 193-204.
5. Lee HJ, Macbeth AH, Pagani J, Young WS.
(2009)Oxytocin: the great facilitator of life. Prog
Neurobiol 88(2): 127-151.
6. Mitre M (2018) Oxytocin Modulation of Neural
Circuits. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 35: 31-53.
7. Argiolas A, Gessa GL (1991) Central functions of
oxytocin. Neurosci Behav Rev 15(2): 217-231.
8. Magon N, Kalra S (2011) The orgasmic history of
oxytocin: Love, lust, and labor. Indian J Endocrinol
Metab 15(3): S156-61.
9. Algoe SB, Kurtz LE, Grewen K (2017) Oxytocin and
social bonds: the role of oxytocin in perceptions of
romantic partners bonding behaviour. Psychol Sci
28(12): 1763-1772.
10. Aleksidze NG (2018) The Quantitative Distribution of
the Hormones of Love and Neurotransmitters at
Psycho Emotional Stresses. Psychol Psychology Res
Int J 3(5): 1-8.
11. Liu Y, Wang ZX (2003) Nucleus accumbens oxytocin
and dopamine interact to regulate pair bond
formation in female prairie voles. Neurosci 121(3):
537-544.
12. Wudarczyk OA., Earp BD, Guastella A, Savulescu J
(2013) Could intranasal oxytocin be used to enhance
relationships? Research imperatives, clinical policy,
and ethical considerations. Curr Opin Psychiatry
26(5): 474-484.
... Oxytocin, commonly known as "Love Hormone," is a hormone that helps people fall in love (Zafar & Shrivastava, 2019). Oxytocin is drugs that induce the contraction of the uterine muscles. ...
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