Developmental Perspectives on Oxytocin and Vasopressin

Abstract

The related neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin are involved in species-typical behavior, including social recognition behavior, maternal behavior, social bonding, communication, and aggression. A wealth of evidence from animal models demonstrates significant modulation of adult social behavior by both of these neuropeptides and their receptors. Over the last decade, there has been a flood of studies in humans also implicating a role for these neuropeptides in human social behavior. Despite popular assumptions that oxytocin is a molecule of social bonding in the infant brain, less mechanistic research emphasis has been placed on the potential role of these neuropeptides in the developmental emergence of the neural substrates of behavior. This review summarizes what is known and assumed about the developmental influence of these neuropeptides and outlines the important unanswered questions and testable hypotheses. There is tremendous translational need to understand the functions of these neuropeptides in mammalian experience-dependent development of the social brain. The activity of oxytocin and vasopressin during development should inform our understanding of individual, sex, and species differences in social behavior later in life.

Restoration of peripheral V2 receptor vasopressin signaling fails to correct behavioral changes in Brattleboro rats

“…Taken together, our data suggest that the behavioral changes observed in three different tests investigating distinct facets of innate fear cannot be corrected by treating the peripheral symptoms of diabetes insipidus and are, thus, primarily linked to the action of central AVP signaling. However, we cannot entirely exclude that the developmental effects of AVP-deficiency (Hammock, 2014) contribute to behavioral alterations which cannot be restored by acute/subacute treatment in adulthood. In this context it seems worth noting that different other systemic treatments (e.g.…”

Assembling the Puzzle: Pathways of Oxytocin Signaling in the Brain

“…At the receptor side, OT administration has been reported to rescue autistic-like symptoms in young adult mice in which OTR expression was completely or partially absent (79,80). Early postnatal events have been shown to influence adult OT and OTR levels, such as parental care, maternal separation, late weaning, and communal rearing possibly via epigenetic mechanisms (82). However, the role of these events on the OT/OTR system in humans has not yet been addressed.…”

The neurobiology of mammalian parenting and the biosocial context of human caregiving

“…Finally, like rodents, experiences within the mother-infant unit enable young to become members of their social niche, partly via the effects of maternal behavior on the organization of the infant's oxytocinergic system (Hammock, 2015;Weisman et al, 2012). The buffering effects of maternal presence and behavior on the infant's stress response, glucocorticoids receptor distribution in the hippocampus, and amygdala activation patterns (Hofer, 1995;Meaney, 2010;Sullivan and Holman, 2010) are similarly echoed in human children's amygdala response to maternal presence (Tottenham, 2012) and cortisol patterns shaped by early maternal touch-and contact (Feldman et al, 2010c).…”

“…rodent species in relation to living conditions, seasonality, and various social "modules" related to social life within that species (Hammock, 2015;Stevens et al, 2013). Since the mechanisms by which OT supports bonding and social life are species-specific, they should be tested in humans.…”