Advances in Vasopressin and Oxytocin - From Genes to Behaviour to Disease

I. VASOPRESSIN AND OXYTOCIN IN EVOLUTION, SEXUAL DICHOTOMY AND STRESS<br>Nonapeptides and the evolutionary patterning of sociality.<br>Sex differences in vasopressin and oxytocin innervation of the brain.<br>The parvocellular vasopressinergic system and responsiveness of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis during chronic stress.<br><br>II. GENETICS MEETS BEHAVIOR<br>Experimental approaches for the study of oxytocin and vasopressin gene expression in the central nervous system.<br>Oxytocin knockout mice: a model for studying stress-related and ingestive behaviors.<br>The role of the vasopressin 1b receptor in aggression and other social behaviors.<br>Behavioral studies using temporal and spatial inactivation of the oxytocin receptor.<br>New aspects of oxytocin receptor function revealed by knockout mice: sociosexual behaviour and control of energy balance. <br><br>III. REGULATION OF VASOPRESSIN AND OXYTOCIN RELEASE<br>Regulation of vasopressin release by co-released neurotransmitters: Mechanisms of purinergic and adrenergic synergism.<br>Neuron-glia interactions in the rat supraoptic nucleus.<br>Dynamic synapses in the hypothalamic-neurohypophyseal system.<br>Endogenous modulators of synaptic transmission: cannabinoid regulation in the supraoptic nucleus.<br>Oxytocin and appetite.<br><br>IV. NONAPEPTIDE RECEPTORS: REGULATION AND SIGNALING<br>Neural mechanisms underlying the milk ejection burst and reflex.<br>Oxytocin receptor signalling.<br>Neurosteroids are excitatory in supraoptic neurons but inhibitory in the peripheral nervous system: it’s all about oxytocin and progesterone receptors.<br>Oxytocin receptors: ligand binding, signaling and cholesterol dependence.<br><br>V. NEURONAL ACTIONS OF NONAPEPTIDES<br>Opposite effects of oxytocin and vasopressin on the emotional expression of the fear response.<br>Multi-factorial somato-dendritic regulation of phasic spike discharge in vasopressin neurons.<br>Neurophysiology of supraoptic neurons in C57/BL mice studied in three acute in-vitro preparations.<br>Effects of oxytocin on GABA signalling in the fetal brain during delivery.<br><br>VI. REGULATION OF SOCIAL BEHAVIORS<br>Central vasopressin and oxytocin release: regulation of complex social behaviours.<br>Interactions between dopamine and oxytocin in the control of sexual behaviour.<br>Steroidal/neuropeptide interactions in hypothalamus and amygdala related to social anxiety.<br>Functional magnetic resonance imaging and the neurobiology of vasopressin and oxytocin.<br>Evolution of the arginine vasopressin 1 a receptor and implications for mammalian social behaviour.<br>Oxytocin, vasopressin and sociality.<br>Neuropeptides and social behaviour: effects of oxytocin and vasopressin in humans.<br><br>VII. OXYTOCIN AND VASOPRESSIN: INVOLVEMENT IN STRESS MANAGEMENT<br>Chronic stress plasticity in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus.<br>Keeping oxytocin neurons under control during stress in pregnancy.<br>Rapid synapse-specific regulation of hypothalamic magnocellular neurons by glycocorticoids.<br>Vasopressin in the septum: not important versus causally involved in learning and memory. Two faces of the same coin?<br>Role of the endocannabinoid system in regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis.<br><br>VIII. PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: CRITICAL INVOLVEMENT OF THE VASOPRESSIN AND OXYTOCIN SYSTEMS<br>Molecular genetic studies of the arginine vasopressin 1a receptor (AVPR1a) (and the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) in human behavior: from autism to altruism with some notes in between.<br>Oxytocin and experimental therapeutics in autism spectrum disorders.<br>Impact of prosocial neuropeptides on human brain function.<br><br>IX. VASOPRESSIN AND OXYTOCIN AGONISTS AND ANTAGONISTS: FROM PHARMACOLOGY TO CLINICAL UTILITY<br>Peptide and nonpeptide agonists and antagonists for the vasopressin and oxytocin V1a, V1b, V2 and OT receptors: research tools and potential therapeutic agents.<br>Affinity and efficacy of selective agonists and antagonists for vasopressin and oxytocin receptors: an “easy guide” to receptor pharmacology.<br>Prevention of hypoxic brain oedema by the administration of vasopressin receptor antagonist OPC-31260.<br>Characterization of Org 52186, a novel and selective V1B receptor antagonist.<br><br>X. PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF RENAL ACTIONS OF VASOPRESSIN<br>Molecular mechanisms of clinical concentrating and diluting disorders.<br>Actin-binding channels.<br>Opposite potentiality of hypothalamic coexpressed neuropeptides, apelin and vasopressin, in maintaining body fluid homeostasis.<br>Recent discoveries in vasopressin-regulated aquaporin 2 trafficking.<br>Pathophysiological role of aquaporin-2 in impaired water excretion.<br>Potential utility of aquaporin modulators for therapy of brain disorders.