Intranasal oxytocin administration improves depression-like behaviors in adult rats that experienced neonatal maternal deprivation

• Published in: Behavioural pharmacology Vol. 27; no. 8; p. 689
• Main Authors: Ji, Haoyi, Su, Wenlong, Zhou, Ruchen, Feng, Jing, Lin, Yue, Zhang, Yumin, Wang, Xinmei, Chen, Xiaoyang, Li, Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.12.2016
• Subjects: Administration, Intranasal; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Depression - drug therapy; Depression - etiology; Hippocampus - drug effects; Hippocampus - metabolism; Hypothalamus - drug effects; Hypothalamus - metabolism; Male; Maternal Deprivation; Neurogenesis - drug effects; Oxytocin - administration & dosage; Oxytocin - metabolism; Oxytocin - pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Social Behavior; Stress, Psychological - drug therapy; Stress, Psychological - etiology
• ISSN: 1473-5849
• DOI: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000248

Oxytocin (OT), a hypothalamic neuropeptide, has been implicated in the regulation of social behaviors in rodents and humans. This study assessed the effects of intranasal administration of OT on depressive-like behaviors and hippocampal neurogenesis in adult rats following neonatal maternal deprivation (NMD). Here, we show that NMD resulted in significant depression-like behaviors, as indicated by decreases in physical activity and emotional reactivity in a novel environment, in 2-month-old animals. Notably, the OT levels in the plasma, hypothalamus, and hippocampus were decreased in these animals. Intranasal administration of OT reduced the depressive-like behaviors in NMD rats and rescued hippocampal long-term plasticity impaired by NMD stress in rats by promoting hippocampal neurogenesis. These results indicate that OT alleviates the depressive-like behaviors in NMD adult rats, probably mediated by improving adult hippocampal neurogenesis.