Marta Busnelli

TL;DR: It is shown that autistic-like symptoms are rescued on administration of AVP and OT to young Oxtr(-/-) adult animals and that intracerebral administration of both OT and AVP lowers aggression and fully reverts social and learning defects by acting on V1a receptors and that seizure susceptibility is antagonized by peripherally administered OT.

TL;DR: This work identifies a new population of OT neurons that modulates nociception in a two tier process: (1) directly by release of OT from axons onto sensory spinal cord neurons and inhibiting their activity and (2) indirectly by stimulating OT release from SON neurons into the periphery.

TL;DR: The evolutionarily and ontogenetically determined pathways of OT delivery and OT signaling, which orchestrate activity of the mesolimbic social decision-making network, are discussed.

TL;DR: Chronic intranasal OXT treatment in wild-type C57BL/6J adult mice produced a selective reduction of social behaviors concomitant to a reduction of the OXT receptors throughout the brain, indicating that a prolonged over-stimulation of a ‘healthy’ oxytocinergic brain system results in specific detrimental effects in social behaviors.

TL;DR: Both analogs inhibited cell proliferation, showing that a single Gi subtype-mediated pathway is sufficient to prompt this physiological response and open the way to the development of drugs with peculiar selectivity profiles.