Study summary · research use only
Oxytocin and appetite
Plain-language summary
Paraphrased from the published abstract below — not a verdict on whether anything works.
This review discusses oxytocin and appetite (general physiology, species not specified for individual claims). The authors describe oxytocin as having potent central effects on feeding behaviour as well as social and sexual behaviours, and identify the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus as one likely substrate for its anorectic effect, noting this nucleus expresses a high density of oxytocin receptors but contains few oxytocin-containing fibres. They discuss oxytocin, possibly released from dendrites of magnocellular oxytocin neurones, as acting there via neurohormonal actions, and note that dendritic release is regulated independently of electrical activity and neurohypophyseal secretion. The authors suggest that central release of oxytocin from magnocellular neurons might contribute to a shift in motivational behaviour, from finding and consuming food toward reproduction. No numerical data are reported.
Abstract
Oxytocin has potent central effects on feeding behaviour, as well as on social and sexual behaviours, and one likely substrate for its anorectic effect is the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus. This nucleus expresses a high density of oxytocin receptors, but contains very few oxytocin-containing fibres, hence it is a likely target of 'neurohormonal' actions of oxytocin, including possibly oxytocin released from the dendrites of magnocellular oxytocin neurones. As oxytocin release from dendrites is regulated independent of electrical activity and of secretion from the neurohypophysis, exactly how this release is regulated by metabolic and reproduction-related signals remains to be established fully. Intriguingly though, it looks as though this central release of oxytocin from magnocellular neurons might be instrumental in a fundamental shift in motivational behaviour - switching behaviour from being driven by the need to find and consume food, to the need to reproduce.
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