Transient Oxytocin Signaling Primes the Development and Function of Excitatory Hippocampal Neurons

Overview

Journal Elife

Specialty Biology

Date 2017 Feb 24

PMID 28231043

Citations 29

Authors

Silvia Ripamonti

Mateusz C Ambrozkiewicz

Francesca Guzzi

Marta Gravati

Gerardo Biella

Ingo Bormuth

Matthieu Hammer

Liam P Tuffy

Albrecht Sigler

Hiroshi Kawabe

Katsuhiko Nishimori

Mauro Toselli

Nils Brose

Marco Parenti

JeongSeop Rhee

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Beyond its role in parturition and lactation, oxytocin influences higher brain processes that control social behavior of mammals, and perturbed oxytocin signaling has been linked to the pathogenesis of several psychiatric disorders. However, it is still largely unknown how oxytocin exactly regulates neuronal function. We show that early, transient oxytocin exposure inhibits the development of hippocampal glutamatergic neurons, leading to reduced dendrite complexity, synapse density, and excitatory transmission, while sparing GABAergic neurons. Conversely, genetic elimination of oxytocin receptors increases the expression of protein components of excitatory synapses and excitatory synaptic transmission . , oxytocin-receptor-deficient hippocampal pyramidal neurons develop more complex dendrites, which leads to increased spine number and reduced γ-oscillations. These results indicate that oxytocin controls the development of hippocampal excitatory neurons and contributes to the maintenance of a physiological excitation/inhibition balance, whose disruption can cause neurobehavioral disturbances.

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