4.7 Article

Oxytocin Attenuates the Stress-Induced Reinstatement of Alcohol-Seeking in Male Rats: Role of the Central Amygdala

Journal

BIOMEDICINES
Volume 9, Issue 12, Pages -

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines9121919

Keywords

oxytocin; stress; yohimbine; alcohol; reinstatement; central amygdala

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Factors such as stress and anxiety can trigger alcohol-dependent behavior and relapse, and investigating potential pharmacological interventions is important. Previous studies suggest that oxytocin has anxiolytic potential and can disrupt stress-induced ethanol-seeking behavior, specifically within the central amygdala.
Factors such as stress and anxiety often contribute to alcohol-dependent behavior and can trigger a relapse of alcohol addiction and use. Therefore, it is important to investigate potential pharmacological interventions that may alleviate the influence of stress on addiction-related behaviors. Previous studies have demonstrated that the neuropeptide oxytocin has promising anxiolytic potential in mammals and may offer a pharmacological target to diminish the emotional impact on reinstatement of alcohol-seeking. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of oxytocin on stress-induced alcohol relapse and identify a neural structure mediating this effect through the use of an ethanol self-administration and yohimbine-induced reinstatement paradigm. While yohimbine administration resulted in the reinstatement of ethanol-seeking behavior, the concurrent administration of yohimbine and oxytocin attenuated this effect, suggesting that oxytocin may disrupt stress-induced ethanol-seeking behavior. The central amygdala (CeA) is a structure that drives emotional responses and robustly expresses oxytocin receptors. Intra-CeA oxytocin similarly attenuated the yohimbine-induced reinstatement of ethanol-seeking behavior. These results demonstrate that oxytocin has the potential to attenuate stress-induced relapse into ethanol-seeking behavior, and that this mechanism occurs specifically within the central amygdala.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available