A new horizon: oxytocin as a novel therapeutic option for obesity and diabetes

Abstract

The story of oxytocin (OXT) began long ago in evolutionary terms with its recognition as a classical neurohypophyseal hormone important for lactation and uterine contraction. With the recent discovery of its local actions in the brain, its previously-unappreciated diverse functions in regulating social behaviors and metabolic physiology are emerging. In light of metabolic control, OXT has been shown to induce feeding restriction and body weight lowering through acting on brain regulatory regions, in particular the hypothalamus. Studies from pharmacologic interventions and genetic manipulations demonstrated that OXT can play significant roles in affecting glucose metabolism as well as insulin secretion and lipolysis, many of those functions being regulated both centrally and peripherally. Also excitingly, recent therapeutic success was obtained in clinical endeavor showing that OXT nasal spray effectively induced weight loss and metabolic improvement in human patients with obesity, thus further indicating OXT as a tangible drug target for treating obesity and metabolic complications. In addition to the native form, OXT-derived analogues have been found effective in inducing body weight control and glucose balance. Altogether, all recent advances in studying OXT and metabolic regulation has promoted a promising foundation for the therapeutic strategy of developing innovative OXT peptidyl drugs for the treatment of obesity and related metabolic diseases.

Oxytocin in survivors of childhood-onset craniopharyngioma

“…Oxytocin has also been linked to energy homeostasis mechanisms in animals, where it acts as a strong inhibitor of food intake and affects energy expenditure and glucose homeostasis [27][28][29][30][31]. Oxytocin has also been shown to play an important role in metabolism and energy balance in humans [32,33], such as reducing caloric intake with a preferential effect on fat intake [11] and reward-driven food intake in humans [34]. These findings are in line with our finding that reduced levels of delta oxytocin correlate with a high BMI in CP patients.…”

Oxytocin system dysfunction as a common mechanism underlying metabolic syndrome and psychiatric symptoms in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders

“…Notwithstanding the dramatic increase in research investigating the biobehavioral effects of OT, there is a dearth of work examining intranasal administration methods (Guastella et al, 2013;Quintana et al, 2016a), understanding how OT exerts its effects on cognition and neural activity by including a control for peripheral effects, and the discovery of the most efficacious dose (Quintana et al, 2016b;Quintana et al, 2016d). In the same manner as when OT research in the biobehavioral sphere was in its infancy, interest in the potential of OT to address MetS symptoms is rapidly growing (Barengolts, 2016;Blevins and Baskin, 2015;Cai and Purkayastha, 2013;Klockars et al, 2015;Olszewski et al, 2016). Better understanding the mechanisms underlying the role of OT in the development and maintenance of individual MetS risk factors before undertaking a raft of underpowered OT trials (Walum et al, 2016) can accelerate the period of enlightenment for OT and MetS, and if efficacious, a period of research productivity.…”

Eating behaviour and oxytocin in patients with childhood‐onset craniopharyngioma and different grades of hypothalamic involvement

“…For central circulation, it is released into the various limbic, midbrain, and hindbrain structures. Oxytocin plays a pivotal role in parturition and maternal behaviour and several neuropsychiatric disorders …”