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The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) mediates its actions, including anxiolysis, via its G protein–coupled OXT receptor. Within the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), OXT-induced anxiolysis is mediated, at least in part, via activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway following calcium influx through transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 2 channels. In the periphery, OXT activates eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2), an essential mediator of protein synthesis.

In order to study whether OXT activates eEF2 also in neurons to exert its anxiolytic properties in the PVN, we performed in vivo and cell culture experiments.

We demonstrate that OXT, in a protein kinase C–dependent manner, activates eEF2 both in a hypothalamic cell line and in vivo within the PVN. Next, we reveal that OXT stimulates de novo protein synthesis, while inhibition of …