An overview of the oxytocin-oxytocin receptor signaling network

Abstract

Oxytocin, a nine amino acid long neuropeptide hormone, is synthesized in the hypothalamus and stored and released from the neural lobe of the pituitary gland. Although commonly known for its central role in the regulation of parturition and lactation, oxytocin signaling also plays a key role in modulating social behavior, evoking contentment, initiating maternal behavior, inducing trust, generosity and bonding in humans and animals. Oxytocin signaling can prove to be of great importance in therapeutics and drug targeting because of its diverse range of actions. However, a well annotated map of oxytocin signaling pathway is currently lacking in the publicly available pathway resources. Therefore, we systematically curated the available signaling information of oxytocin from published literature and collated the data to develop a more complete map. We cataloged 66 molecules belonging to oxytocin signaling pathway, which included 9 protein-protein interactions, 39 post-translational modifications, 14 protein translocation events and 22 activation/inhibition events.

Seasonal Expression of Oxytocin and Oxytocin Receptor in the Scented Gland of Male Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus)

“…Therefore, our results implied that OT/OTR may be involved in the activation of the ERK1/2 signaling pathway, consequently affecting the glandular contraction and musk secretion. In addition, nuclear ERK1/2 was considered to regulate cell proliferation by inducing c-fos expression 13 , 14 . Our previous study demonstrated that in the breeding season, the number of epithelial cells and glandular cells in the scented gland markedly increased, suggesting a seasonal change in cell proliferation 23 , 26 , 27 , 38 , 39 .…”

Oxytocin structure and function in New World monkeys: from pharmacology to behavior

“…The pharmacological outcomes associated with OT activation are known to be involved in neuronal membrane/cell excitability (Gong et al 2015), long-term potentiation (Lin et al 2012) and regulating many facets of social behavior (Blume et al 2008;Jurek et al 2012;Wang et al 2015). For a full representation of the OT signaling network see Chatterjee et al (2016) . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 es.…”

Oxytocin Receptor Signaling in Vascular Function and Stroke

“…Recently, an ambitious synthesis of previous reports of OXTR intracellular signaling pathways was completed by Chatterjee and colleagues. To date, this open-source resource on NetPath is the most comprehensive overview of the OXTR signaling cascade (Chatterjee et al, 2016). Several of the more well-established pathways and their functional role at the cellular level will be described below.…”