Effect of Melanotan-II on brain Fos immunoreactivity and oxytocin neuronal activity and secretion in rats

Abstract

Melanocortins stimulate the central oxytocin systems which are involved in regulating social behaviours. Alterations in central oxytocin have been linked to neurological disorders such as autism, and melanocortins have been proposed for therapeutic treatment. Here, we investigated how systemic administration of melanotan-II (MT-II), a melanocortin agonist, affects oxytocin neuronal activity and secretion in rats.

Our results show that intravenous (i.v.), but not intranasal, administration of MT-II markedly induced Fos expression in magnocellular neurones of the supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular nuclei (PVN) of the hypothalamus, and this response was attenuated by prior intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of the melanocortin antagonist, SHU-9119. Electrophysiological recordings from identified magnocellular neurones of the SON showed that i.v. administration of MT-II increased the firing rate in oxytocin neurones, but did not trigger somatodendritic oxytocin release within the SON as measured by microdialysis.

Our data suggest that, after intravenous, but not intranasal, administration of MT-II, the activity of magnocellular neurones of the SON is increased. Since previous studies showed that SON oxytocin neurones are inhibited in response to direct application of melanocortin agonists, the actions of i.v. MT-II are likely to be mediated at least partly indirectly, possibly by activation of inputs from the caudal brainstem, where MT-II also increased Fos expression.

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