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Oxytocin and vasopressin are the only known hormones released by the human posterior pituitary gland to act at a distance. However, oxytocin neurons make other peptides, including corticotropin-releasing hormone and dynorphin , for example, that act locally.
Lysine vasopressin (lypressin) has a lysine in place of the arginine as the eighth amino acid, and is found in pigs and some related animals, whereas arginine vasopressin is found in humans. [ 49 ] The structure of oxytocin is very similar to that of the vasopressins: It is also a nonapeptide with a disulfide bridge and its amino acid sequence ...
Neurophysins are carrier proteins which transport the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin to the posterior pituitary from the paraventricular and supraoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus, respectively. Inside the neurosecretory granules, the analogous neurophysin I and II form stabilizing complexes via covalent interactions. [1]
An increase in vasopressin has been observed in female rats which have just given birth. Vasopressin is associated with aggressive and hostile behaviours, and is postulated to decrease sexual motivation in females. Vasopressin administered in the female rat brain has been observed to result in an immediate decrease in sexual motivation. [13]
Most of the circulating oxytocin and vasopressin hormones are synthesized in magnocellular neurosecretory cells of the supraoptic nucleus and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. They are then transported in neurosecretory granules along axons within the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial tract by axoplasmic flow to axon terminals forming the ...
Also called the neural lobe or posterior lobe, this region constitutes the majority of the posterior pituitary and is the storage site of oxytocin and vasopressin. Sometimes (incorrectly) considered synonymous with the posterior pituitary, the pars nervosa includes Herring bodies and pituicytes .
Oxytocin and vasopressin can, thus, be released within the brain from these dendrites, as well as into the blood from the terminals in the posterior pituitary gland. [5] However, the release of oxytocin and vasopressin from dendrites is not consistently accompanied by peripheral secretion, as dendritic release is regulated differently.
The oxytocin receptor, also known as OXTR, is a protein which functions as receptor for the hormone and neurotransmitter oxytocin. [4] [5] In humans, the oxytocin receptor is encoded by the OXTR gene [6] [7] which has been localized to human chromosome 3p25. [8] Evolutionary tree of the oxytocin, vasotocin, mesotocin and isotocin receptors and ...