Talk:Oxytocin/Archive 2

Corrections?
1) "oxytocin ... is stored in Herring bodies at the axon terminals" - it's stored in nerve endings and axon swellings; the Herring bodies (very large swellings) are now thought to be sites of degradation of aged vesicles.

2) “Modulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity: Oxytocin, under certain circumstances, indirectly inhibits release of adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol and, in those situations, may be considered an antagonist of vasopressin.” This is at best misleading. Oxytocin itself has weak direct ‘’’stimulatory’’’ effects on ACTH secretion, of uncertain physiological significance (Antoni FA. Receptors mediating the CRH effects of vasopressin and oxytocin. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1987;512:195-204. Review.PMID:2831775). There is no sense in which it can be regarded as an antagonist of vasopressin – it is an agonist at all known vasopressin receptors. The only sense in which this statement is approximately correct is that there is evidence that, centrally, oxytocin has anti-stress actions.

3) "oxytocin-containing cells have been identified in several diverse tissues, including the corpus luteum,[87][88] the interstitial cells of Leydig,[89] the retina,[90] the adrenal medulla,[91] the placenta,[92] the thymus[93] and the pancreas.[94]"- This sentence has problems. The single report of radioimmunoassayable oxytocin in the retina has not been confirmed; vasopressin containing cells have been found in rat retina, but oxytocin seems to be absent. I haven’t seen confirmation of oxytocin expression in the adrenal medulla since the early reports – both radioimmunoassay and immunocytochemistry have a potential for false positive results from cross-reaction with the antibodies, so false positive reports are quite common. Without also demonstrating mRNA expression they should be taken cautiously.  Again there’s a single old report of immunoreactive oxytocin in the pancreas – I don’t know of any subsequent confirmation of this. I’d suggest eliminating pancreas, adrenal medulla and retina from this list as highly questionable.

4) “…where it can be excreted via the nipple” This is a rather odd phrasing. Milk isn’t excreted (according to WP, excretion is the process by which waste products of metabolism and other non-useful materials are eliminated from an organism). Milk is removed from the breast by sucking.Gleng (talk) 12:39, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

5) - the lead says "Oxytocin (Oxt) /ˌɒksɨˈtoʊsɪn/ is a mammalian neurohypophysial hormone, (secreted by the posterior pituitary gland), that acts primarily as a neuromodulator in the brain." This is misleading. Oxytocin released from the posterior pituitary does NOT act on the brain (it's prevented from re-entering by the blood-brain barrier. It is thus primarily (in the sense that this is what the great majority of oxytocin does) a hormone that regulates milk let-down and parturition by its actions in the periphery. It also has actions within the brain following release into the brain by a) parvocellular neurons that do not project to the neurohypophysis and b) the dendrites of oxytocin neurons that do project there. Gleng (talk) 13:23, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Half-life reference
The claim that oxytocin has a half-life of 6-10 minutes needs referencing and clarifying - presumably this is a blood half-life. 92.24.24.77 (talk) 22:19, 28 October 2014 (UTC)vburmester

Structure and relation to vasopressin
Hi. Article gives RIA as one of the methods of measurement. Superseded by ELISA now? Notreallydavid (talk) 21:40, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Natural vs artificial oxytocin
Oxytocin is primarily found as a natural hormone. The fact that medicine has found a way to produce a chemical substitute is a very secondary use. The two should not be confused. Having the medical use in the section immediately after the introductory paragraphs is misleading and distorts its function and purpose. 205.167.120.201 (talk) 16:18, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I think you have a point and I have now moved the sections on medical use down in the article. This article is overall somewhat clumsy organized, so I'm considering asking the Neuroscience project to take a look at it for possible improvements. Thanks for your comment. Iselilja (talk) 16:35, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Side effect = HTN
It's missing the important side effect of hypertension... That's why we monitor mom's for HTN 182.255.99.214 (talk) 01:25, 7 June 2015 (UTC)

Slight mistake:
Oxytocin is implicated in imprinting behavior. In the sheep example in the text, it is not that oxytocin starts maternal behavior, it is that the neuronal system starts an imprinting cycle where they sheep (female/mature) imprints onto young (or other sheep). This is also the case of young whom would imprint onto others, due succesfull interactions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.208.174.60 (talk) 14:02, 14 August 2015 (UTC)
 * The only statement about sheep in the article is this: "By contrast, virgin female sheep show maternal behavior toward foreign lambs upon cerebrospinal fluid infusion of oxytocin, which they would not do otherwise.", and it is supported by a reference (which I cannot access). Are you saying (a) the statement is not true, (b) the statement incorrectly portrays the information in the source, (c) the statement is incomplete -- or what? Looie496 (talk) 15:47, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

US legal status in infobox
There has been some edit-warring about whether the drug should be shown as prescription-only in the infobox. The basic issue here is that the injectable form is prescription-only, but the nasal spray form (not used in medicine) can be purchased over the counter. It isn't obvious to me how best to deal with this. Looie496 (talk) 13:11, 25 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Just state that it's Rx and non-Rx.  Seppi  333  (Insert 2¢) 16:40, 25 October 2015 (UTC)
 * The IP editor has been repeatedly trying to introduce the word "uncontrolled" which is not correct even if there are some products that are not prescription only, because some forms are indeed controlled. The drugbox data is primarily relevant to its use as a pharmaceutical drug and therefore the data in it should reflect that use.  "Rx only" is the appropriate term in that context.  The article text can then elaborate on exceptions or on more complex regulatory issues if warranted.   -- Ed (Edgar181) 20:33, 2 November 2015 (UTC)