Targets of Oxytocin Receptor Signaling

催产素是一种进化上保守的肽类激素， 生殖和母性行为的下丘脑。最近的研究将催产素标记为 “信任”激素，有望改善各种精神疾病（如自闭症）的社会缺陷。 尽管催产素的热情，催产素在改善人类社会行为的功效， 是矛盾的。这种不一致可能是由于我们对复杂性的理解不足， 催产素的作用和行为的措施，已在临床试验中使用。更好的 需要了解催产素的机制，以应用这种治疗潜力。 神经肽最近，我们发现催产素能使小鼠通过识别婴儿的求救信号， 听觉系统通过催产素受体增强了母鼠对幼崽的检索。的假设 这种应用是催产素受体下游靶点的鉴定将提供一种 在分子、生理、系统和行为水平上分析催产素信号的手段。 我们开发了新的检测方法和抗体来跟踪催产素受体（G 蛋白偶联受体这个项目的目的是了解催产素的许多作用 是从其受体信号转导途径翻译而来的。最初的目标将是遵循 调节催产素功能的下游蛋白质。包括G蛋白，钙- 依赖蛋白，支架蛋白，如桥蛋白和受体酪氨酸激酶，如BDNF TrkB受体。

Oxytocin is an evolutionary conserved peptide hormone that is synthesized and released from the hypothalamus for reproduction and maternal behavior. Recent studies have tagged oxytocin as a “trust” hormone, that promises to improve social deficits in various mental disorders, such as autism. Despite the enthusiasm for oxytocin, the efficacy of oxytocin in improving human social behaviors has been contradictory. Such inconsistencies are likely due to our poor understanding of complexity of oxytocin action and the behavioral measures that have been used in clinical trials. A better understanding of the mechanisms of oxytocin is needed to apply the therapeutic potential of this neuropeptide. Recently we showed that oxytocin enables mice to recognize infant distress calls through the auditory system that enhanced maternal pup retrieval thru oxytocin receptors. The hypothesis of this application is that the identification of downstream targets of oxytocin receptors will provide a means of analyzing oxytocin signaling across molecular, physiological, systems and behavioral levels. We have developed new assays and antibodies to follow the action of the oxytocin receptor, a G protein-coupled receptor. The aim of this project is to understand how the many actions of oxytocin are translated from its receptor signal transduction pathways. An initial goal will be to follow the downstream proteins that mediate the functions of oxytocin. This includes G proteins, calcium- dependent proteins, scaffold proteins like gephyrin and receptor tyrosine kinases, such as the BDNF TrkB receptor.