Remarkably, "simply infusing oxytocin into the parts of the brain that BNST oxytocin neurons connect to caused ordinarily non-stressed mice to show social anxiety behaviors as if they had experienced social stress," said Trainor. This was achieved by using a virus to express a fluorescent molecule only in oxytocin neurons. This study further showed that oxytocin-producing neurons in the BNST are connected to brain regions that control anxiety-related behavior. This is interesting because social anxiety disorders are more common and more severe in women compared to men. Interestingly, while oxytocin neurons in the BNST are present in both males and females, previous studies from this group showed that social stress has stronger long term effects on these neurons in females. The researchers were able to show this by using a tool called morpholino-oligos, which, when injected directly into the BNST, prevents oxytocin from being produced in this area. Our experiments show that production of oxytocin in the BNST is necessary for social anxiety behaviors in California mice," said Duque-Wilckens. "Before this study, we knew that stress increased the activity of the oxytocin-producing neurons located in the BNST, but we didn't know if they could affect behavior. The senior author is Brian Trainor, professor of psychology and director of the Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab at UC Davis. The lead author is Natalia Duque-Wilckens, a former doctoral researcher at UC Davis who is now at Michigan State University. This may provide an explanation as to why oxytocin can sometimes have antisocial effects. The findings of the study, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, show that oxytocin produced in the BNST increases stress-induced social anxiety behaviors in mice. The BNST is known for its role in the stress response, and it may play a key role in psychiatric disorders such as depression, addiction and anxiety. While most oxytocin is produced in an area of the brain known as the hypothalamus, some oxytocin is produced in another brain area known as the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, or BNST. Working with California mice, UC Davis researches showed that the "love hormone" oxytocin can sometimes have antisocial effects depending on where in the brain it is made. How oxytocin could exert such opposite roles had largely remained a mystery, but a new UC Davis study sheds light on how this may work. Studies have long suggested that oxytocin - a hormone that can also act as a neurotransmitter - regulates prosocial behavior such as empathy, trust and bonding, which led to its popular labeling as the "love hormone." Mysteriously, oxytocin has also been shown to play a role in antisocial behaviors and emotions, including reduced cooperation, envy and anxiety.
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