The oxytocin system regulates tearing

Autor: Shigeru Nakamura, Toshihiro Imada, Kai Jin, Michiko Shibuya, Hisayo Sakaguchi, Fumiya Izumiseki, Kenji F Tanaka, Masaru Mimura, Kastuhiro Nishimori, Natsumi Kambara, Nozomi Hirayama, Itsuka Kamimura, Kensaku Nomoto, Kazutaka Mogi, Takefumi Kikusui, Yasutaka Mukai, Akihiro Yamanaka, Kazuo Tsubota
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
DOI: 10.1101/2022.03.08.483433
Popis: Tears are an exocrine physiological fluid secreted onto the ocular surface from the lacrimal apparatus in all mammals. Limited research has been conducted on the functional neuronal circuitry of tear production. In particular, the neuronal mechanisms of emotional tearing, which is a physiological reaction harmonized with enhanced emotional arousal and assumed to be unique to humans, remain unclear. We identified that the oxytocin neurons in the paraventricular hypothalamus is functionally projected to the oxytocin receptor-expressing neurons in the lacrimation center of the superior salivatory nucleus. Optogenetic activation or inhibition of these neurons and/or receptors can modulate the superior salivatory nucleus dependent tear secretion mediated through oxytocin. Moreover, we identified that maternal behavior, nociceptive behavior stimulation, and aversive memory retrieval are linked to tearing in mice, and that these emotional linked tearing are suppressed by optogenetic inhibition of the corresponding oxytocin system. Thus, tearing could be regulated through functional connections between central oxytocin systems in the paraventricular hypothalamus and the superior salivatory nucleus.
Databáze: OpenAIRE