Evidence that apomorphine induces penile erection and yawning by releasing oxytocin in the central nervous system
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Cited by (83)
Oxytocinergic neurons, but not oxytocin, are crucial for male penile erection
2023, NeuropharmacologyCentral administration of oxytocin differentially increases yawning, penile erections and scratching in high- (HY) and low-yawning (LY) sublines of Sprague-Dawley rats
2015, Pharmacology Biochemistry and BehaviorCitation Excerpt :In fact, oxytocinergic neurons, in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus, represent the key region for the induction of yawning and penile erections (Melis and Argiolas, 2011). In addition to the ability of oxytocin to induce yawning and penile erection, other pharmacological agents, such as dopamine agonists (via activation of D2-like receptors) and excitatory amino acids (via activation of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors), can induce yawning and penile erection (Roeling et al., 1991; Melis et al., 1989a, 1989b, 1994). Moreover, all of these agents activate nitric oxide synthase which in turn, increases the release of this gas and reactivates oxytocinergic neurons.
Yawning, acute stressors, and arousal reduction in Nazca booby adults and nestlings
2015, Physiology and BehaviorCitation Excerpt :Adrenalectomy stops production of glucocorticoids and virtually abolishes yawning in rats; administration of the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone to these same rats restores yawning [5]. The hormones dopamine and oxytocin are both products and regulators of the HPA axis; exogenous administration of these hormones or their agonists induces yawning [26,27,44]. Circulating levels of corticosterone (CORT), the primary glucocorticoid in birds, and cortisol (the mammalian homologue of CORT) are also correlated with alertness, vigilance, and arousal, rising in the hours before awakening [10], rising faster just after awakening [37,43], and promoting arousal and memory consolidation [1,31].
Male Sexual Behavior
2015, Knobil and Neill's Physiology of Reproduction: Two-Volume SetBrain-spinal cord neural circuits controlling male sexual function and behavior
2012, Neuroscience ResearchCitation Excerpt :The administration of oxytocin into the PVN also induced a dose-dependent increase in the number of penile erections and yawning episodes in male rats, suggesting a physiological role of hypothalamic oxytocin in the regulation of such responses (Melis et al., 1986). Because penile erection and yawning induced by either oxytocin or apomorphine in rats were antagonized in a dose-dependent manner by pretreatment with oxytocin antagonists, dopamine may induce these responses by releasing oxytocin in vivo (Melis et al., 1989). The thalamus of the diencephalon is believed to act as a relay between a variety of subcortical areas and the cerebral cortex.
Central control of penile erection: A re-visitation of the role of oxytocin and its interaction with dopamine and glutamic acid in male rats
2011, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :In line with these results, apomorphine injected into the paraventricular nucleus at a dose that induces penile erection was recently shown to be able to increase also extra-cellular dopamine concentration in the nucleus accumbens, an effect reduced by the oxytocin receptor antagonist d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)2-Orn8-vasotocin injected into the ventral tegmental area (Succu et al., 2007; Melis et al., 2009a) (see also Section 4). Third, bilateral electrolytic lesions of the paraventricular nucleus, which almost completely eliminate oxytocin from extra-hypothalamic brain areas (Hawthorn et al., 1985), abolish apomorphine-induced penile erection (Argiolas et al., 1987a), and selective oxytocin receptor antagonists given into the lateral ventricles, but not into the paraventricular nucleus, reduce dose-dependently apomorphine-induced penile erection with a potency parallel to that of these compounds in blocking oxytocin receptors (Melis et al., 1989b). Oxytocin receptor antagonists are also extremely potent in reducing the facilitation of male sexual behaviour induced not only by oxytocin, but also by apomorphine (Argiolas et al., 1988, 1989).