Paradoxically, however, people with high endogenous levels of oxytocin also tend to report relational distress and interpersonal difficulties in their everyday lives. To address these contradictory findings, oxytocin reactivity was measured in response to a well-defined laboratory task in young adult women following recent interpersonal harms. Elevated mean peripheral oxytocin reactivity (but not baseline levels of oxytocin or cortisol reactivity) was associated with increased post-conflict anxiety and decreased levels of forgiveness. These results
corroborate previous research implicating oxytocin as a neuroendocrine marker of relational distress, but not general stress, and demonstrate the utility of studying oxytocin in response Torin 2 to naturally Flavopiridol purchase occurring relational events. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Nesfatin-1 is a neuropeptide localized in hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Previously, we have reported the mechanism of feeding suppression by nesfatin-1, and also reported the ability of nesfatin-1 in regulating stress response and the circadian feeding pattern.
Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a neuropeptide also related to
the stress response, feeding, and regulation of cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems. The neurons with receptors for PACAP are distributed in PVN. However, there are no reports showing the direct effect of PACAP on nesfatin-1 neurons. In order to explore the direct effect of PACAP on PVN nesfatin-1 neuron, we have measured the cytosolic free calcium ([Ca2+](i)) using fura-2 microfluorometry in single neurons PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitor 3 isolated from PVN of adult rats, followed by immunocytochemical identification of nesfatin-1 neurons. PACAP at 10(-15) M to 10(-9) M increased [Ca2+](i) in dose dependent manner. PAC1 and VPAC2 receptor agonists also increased [Ca2+](i). Sixteen out of 40 neurons (40%) in PVN responded to 10(-9) M PACAP, and 12 out of 16 neurons (75%) which responded to 10(-9) M PACAP were found to be nesfatin-1 neurons.
In this paper we show that PACAP directly activates nesfatin-1 neurons in PVN. The data suggest that nesfatin-1 controls feeding, stress response or autonomic response under PACAP regulation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Background: Progesterone, a steroid hormone, has been implicated in many CNS functions including reward, cognition, and neuroprotection. The goal of this study was to examine the dose-dependent effects of progesterone on cognitive performance, smoking urges, and smoking behavior in smokers.
Methods: Thirty female and thirty-four male smokers participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Female smokers were in the early follicular phase of their menstrual cycle during study participation.