Oxytocin-secreting system: A major part of the neuroendocrine center regulating immunologic activity

Model Roles of the Hypothalamo-Neurohypophysial System in Neuroscience Study

“…Clearly, there are bidirectional communications between the HNS and the immune system, in which the HNS could function as a higher neuroendocrine regulatory center of the immune system and modulate immunologic responses differentially and coordinately through OXT and VP, respectively. This proposal expands the view that the OXT-secreting system is a major part of the neuroendocrine center regulating immunologic activity [88].…”

“…On the other hand, the HNS can profoundly modulate the development, differentiation and functions of the immune system. For example, removal of the intermediate and posterior lobes of the pituitary reduces hormone-and cell-mediated immune responses to pathological challenges in rats as recently reviewed [88]. In rat tissue cultures, VP inhibits while OXT promotes the growth of thymic glands [89].…”

“…OXT reduces stress-induced psychological illness by strengthening social bonding while VP and corticotrophin-releasing hormone enhance autonomic reactivity and increase susceptibility to adverse mental and physical impacts through its facilitating arousal [90]. In addition, OXT can extensively modulate the activity of immunologic system, such as increasing the production of hematopoietic progenitor cells, reducing inflammatory cytokines, inhibiting the invasion of neutrophils [88]. Consistently, blocking OXTRs inhibits T-cell differentiation in the thymus [91] and activates the excretion of the inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-6 and Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 5 [92,93] while neutralization of VP specifically and reversibly blocks interferon-γ production in mouse splenic lymphocytes [94].…”

Oxytocin pathways in the intergenerational transmission of maternal early life stress

“…Although not fully understood, CNS inflammatory pathways may interfere with serotonin metabolism, augment glutamatergic activity, and potentiate the activity of the HPA-axis, thereby contributing to depression risk (Miller et al, 2009; Raison et al, 2006). Presence of OTRs on human immune cells suggests that OT plays a role in the neuroendocrine regulation of immunity with mainly anti-inflammatory effects (Wang et al, 2015). For example, administration of OT significantly attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced production of pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha ( TNF-α) and interleukin 6 ( IL-6) in serum of healthy human subjects (Clodi et al, 2008) and microglial production of TNF-α and interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) in mice (Yuan et al, 2016).…”

“…It is also suggested that OT may play an important role in the development of depression (McQuaid et al, 2014), which is a highly prevalent clinical consequence of ELS and a condition that may interfere with optimal parenting behavior (Beck, 1995; Feldman, 2015b; Field, 2010). Finally, OT modulates the activity of stress-sensitive biological systems, such as the HPA-axis (Cardoso et al, 2014) and the immune system (Wang et al, 2015), which have been previously proposed to affect fetal development (Entringer et al, 2015). Taken together, these findings suggest OT signaling to be an exquisite target for pre- and postnatal pathways of intergenerational transmission of maternal ELS, which is further substantiated by findings in rodents (Champagne, 2008).…”