The role of oxytocin and the paraventricular nucleus in the sexual behaviour of

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Physiol Behav. 2004 Nov 15;83(2):309-17.Click here to read Links

The role of oxytocin and the paraventricular nucleus in the sexual

behaviour of male mammals.

Argiolas A, Melis MR.

Bernard B. Brodie Department of Neuroscience and Center of

Excellence for the Neurobiology of Addictions, University of Cagliari,

Cittadella Universitaria, S.P. Sestu-Monserrato, Km 0.700, 09042

Monserrato, CA, Italy. argiolas@...

The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus contains the cell

bodies of a group of oxytocinergic neurons projecting to

extrahypothalamic brain areas and to the spinal cord, which are

involved in the control of erectile function and copulation. In male

rats, these neurons can be activated by dopamine, excitatory amino

acids, nitric oxide (NO), hexarelin analogue peptides and oxytocin

itself to induce penile erection and facilitate copulation, while

their inhibition by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and GABA agonists

and by opioid peptides and opiate-like drugs inhibits sexual

responses. The activation of paraventricular oxytocinergic neurons by

dopamine, oxytocin, excitatory amino acids and hexarelin analogue

peptides is apparently mediated by the activation of nitric oxide (NO)

synthase. NO in turn activates, by a mechanism that is as yet

unidentified, the release of oxytocin from oxytocinergic neurons in

extrahypothalamic brain areas. Paraventricular oxytocinergic neurons

and mechanisms similar to those reported above are also involved in

the expression of penile erection in physiological contexts, namely,

when penile erection is induced in the male by the presence of an

inaccessible receptive female, which is considered a model for

psychogenic impotence in man, as well as during copulation. These

findings show that paraventricular oxytocinergic neurons projecting to

extrahypothalamic brain areas and to the spinal cord and the

paraventricular nucleus play an important role in the control of

erectile function and male sexual behaviour in mammals.

PMID: 15488547 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]