Study of novel physiological function by the system with oxytocin and its receptor.

中枢催产素及其受体Oxtr对包括人类在内的哺乳动物的社会行为具有调节作用。此外，已经开始将催产素应用于自闭症患者，并且已经积累了描述积极治疗效果的报告。在本研究中，我们分析了大脑中表达Oxtr的神经元控制社会行为的机制。首先，通过将fx型Oxtr KO小鼠与ePet-Cre小鼠杂交，我们产生了具有5-HT神经元特异性Oxtr基因缺失的小鼠。这条线并没有显示出他们的社会记忆有任何损伤。相反，通过向小鼠脑内注射AAV-Cre病毒载体进行拯救实验，诱导MeA特异性缺失Oxtr基因，结果表明MeA中表达的Oxtr对社会记忆是必需的。此外，我们发现rRPa中表达Oxtr的丘脑能神经元调节体温。我们对表达Oxtr的I型味觉细胞进行了研究，并获得了这些群体的新特征。

Central oxytocin and its receptor Oxtr have a regulatory function to control social behaviors in mammals, including human. Also, application of oxytocin to Autism patients have been started and reports describing positive cure effects have been accumulated. In this study, we analyzed the mechanism controlling social behaviors by neurons expressing Oxtr in brain First, by crossing fx-type Oxtr KO mice with ePet-Cre mice, we generated mice having 5-HT neurons-specific deletion of Oxtr genes. This line didn't show any impairment in their social memory. In contrast, rescue experiment was carried out by injection of AAV-Cre viral vector to mice brains to induce MeA-specific deletion of Oxtr gene, and it revealed that Oxtr expressing in MeA were essential for social memory. In addition, we found that the glutamatergic neurons expressing Oxtr in rRPa regulated body temperature. We forwarded study of type I taste cells expressing Oxtr, and obtained novel characteristics of these populations.