oxytocin postpartum depression

Postpartum depression (PPD) affects 1 in 7 women and has negative mental health consequences for both mother and child. However, the precise biological mechanisms behind the disorder are unknown. Therefore, we performed the largest transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) for PPD (482 cases, 859 controls) to date using RNA-sequencing in whole blood and deconvoluted cell types. No transcriptional changes were observed in whole blood. B-cells showed a majority of transcriptome-wide significant results (891 transcripts representing 789 genes) with pathway analyses implicating altered B-cell activation and insulin resistance...

Antenatal depression affects up to 20% of pregnancies, yet research has historically focused on postnatal depression and its effects on mothers and their offspring. Studies are now emerging highlighting the impact that depression in pregnancy can also carry on both members of the dyad, including difficulties with psychological, physical, and social functioning. More specifically, researchers have begun to examine whether antenatal depression may lead to difficulties in the developing mother-infant relationship and subsequent infant attachment...

BACKGROUND: Considering the importance of sexual function, high prevalence of sexual dysfunction (especially dyspareunia caused by atrophic vaginitis) in breastfeeding women, and lack of effective interventions, the present research aimed to determine the effect of oxytocin (OXT) vaginal gel on sexual function (primary outcome), sexual satisfaction, and depression (secondary outcomes) in the breastfeeding women. METHODS: This randomized triple-blind controlled trial was conducted on 64 breastfeeding women who referred to health centers in the city of Tabriz, Iran, in 2020-21...

INTRODUCTION: Perinatal women often experience mood disorders and postpartum depression due to the physical load and the rapid changes in hormone levels caused by pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing. When the mother's emotions become unstable, their parental behavior (maternal behavior) may decline, the child's attachment may weaken, and the formation of mother-child bonding can become hindered. As a result, the growth of the child may be adversely affected. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of ω3 fatty acid deficiency in the perinatal period on maternal behavior and the oxytocin concentration and fatty acid composition in brain tissue...

BACKGROUND: Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide hormone that has anxiolytic and antidepressant effects, and positive effects on social affiliation and behaviour, particularly in parenting and attachment relationships. In women with postnatal depression (PND), each of these are reduced. This study investigated if OT administration reduces low mood in new mothers with PND and across the low mood spectrum. DESIGN: A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised controlled-trial, within-subjects, cross-over design was conducted...

Breastfeeding, given its biochemical and physiological basis, is known for its many benefits for both the lactating mother and the infant. Among the many challenges new breastfeeding mothers experience is the feeling of aversion in response to their newborn's suckling which has been termed dysphoric milk-ejection reflex (D-MER). Characterized by intense feelings of dysphoria which may eventually interfere with the mother's ability to breastfeed regularly, evidence suggests both the neurobiological and psychological basis of D-MER in an attempt to explain its complexity...

BACKGROUND: Maternity blues is a transient change of mood that occurs within the first few days after delivery. Some of the most common symptoms include mood swings, tearfulness, irritability, loss of appetite, fatigue. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between maternity blues, psychological, demographic and obstetrics risk factors. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2019 and February 2020 at the University Hospital Center Zagreb, Croatia...

Background : Both oxytocin and carbetocin are used to prevent uterine atony and post-partum haemorrhage after caesarean delivery in many countries, including Norway. Oxytocin causes dose-dependent ST-depression, troponin release, prolongation of QT-time and arrythmia, but little is known about myocardial effects of carbetocin. We have previously demonstrated comparable vasodilatory effects of oxytocin and carbetocin and are now undertaking a Phase 4 trial to investigate whether carbetocin causes similar changes to myocardial markers compared with oxytocin...

Maternal social stress among breastfeeding women can be adapted in chronic process. However, neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying such adaptation remain to be identified. Here, we report the effects of 2 hr/day unfamiliar male rat invasion (UMI) stress on maternal behaviors in lactating rats during postpartum day 8 (UMI8) to postpartum day 12 (UMI12). Rat dams at UMI8 presented signs of maternal anxiety, depression, and attacks toward male intruder. These changes partially reversed at UMI12 except the sign of anxiety...

AIM: This study aims to determine the relationship between the late pregnancy and postpartum oxytocin levels and postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms. METHODS: This longitudinal study was conducted with 70 pregnant women. Data collection was performed through two interviews. While the first interview was conducted in the 30th to 38th gestational weeks, the second interview was conducted in the 4th to 12th weeks in the postpartum period. Oxytocin level measurement was performed with a saliva sample...

Oxytocin is one of the most commonly used medications during labour and delivery. Recent insights from basic neuroscience research suggest that the uterotonic effects of oxytocin may arguably be trivial when compared with its profound effects on higher-order human behaviour. The purpose of this review is to highlight the potential consequences of manipulating oxytocinergic signalling during the peripartum period and its long-term impact on the maternal-infant dyad. We identified four domains where modulation of oxytocinergic signalling might be consequential: postpartum depression; breastfeeding; neurodevelopment; and chronic pain, and performed a literature search to address the impact of peripartum oxytocin administration...

At least one in seven pregnant or recently postpartum women will experience a mental illness such as an anxiety disorder, depressive disorder, or substance use disorder. These mental illnesses have detrimental effects on the health of the mother, child, and family, but little is known about the hypothalamic and other neural correlates of maternal mental health concerns. The transition to parenthood alone is a time of remarkable neural plasticity, so it is perhaps not surprising that current research is showing that maternal mental illness has unique neural profiles...

Paternal care plays a critical role in the development of brain and behaviors in offspring in monogamous species. However, the neurobiological mechanisms, especially the neuronal circuity, underlying paternal care is largely unknown. Using socially monogamous male mandarin voles ( Microtus mandarinus ) with high levels of paternal care, we found that paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) to ventral tegmental area (VTA) or nucleus accumbens (NAc) oxytocin (OT) neurons are activated during paternal care...

Oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide produced in the supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei, is not only essential for lactation and maternal behavior but also for normal immunological activity. However, mechanisms underlying OT regulation of maternal behavior and its association with immunity around parturition, particularly under mental and physical stress, remain unclear. Here, we observed effects of OT on maternal behavior in association with immunological activity in rats after cesarean delivery (CD), a model of reproductive stress...

Both untreated and antidepressant SSRI treated maternal depression during the perinatal period can pose both short-and long-term health risks to the offspring. Therefore, it is essential to have an effective SSRI treatment consisting of the lowest effective dose beneficial to the mother, without causing adverse effects on offspring development. The effects of prenatal stress on neurobehavioral outcomes were studied in the pregnant and lactating rat dam, and her offspring. Furthermore, stressed dams were treated with different doses of fluoxetine (FLX; 5, 10and 25 mg/kg) during pregnancy and the postpartum period...

Untreated perinatal depression can have severe consequences for the mother and her children. However, both the efficacy to mothers and safety to exposed infants of pharmacological antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), have been questioned. We previously reported that maternal SSRI exposure increased hippocampal IL-1β levels, which may be tied to limited efficacy of SSRIs during the postpartum to the dam but is not yet known whether maternal postpartum SSRIs affect the neuroinflammatory profile of adult offspring...

Oxytocin (OT) is a key factor for maternal behavior; however, neurochemical regulation of OT neurons, the major source of OT, remains incompletely understood. Here we report the effect of intranasally-applied OT (IAO) on OT neuronal activity in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) and maternal behavior in a rat model of cesarean delivery (CD) at day 4-5 (stage I) and day 8-9 (stage II) following the delivery. We found that at stage I, CD dams exhibited significantly longer latency of pup retrieval, lower number of anogenital licking and smaller acinar area of the mammary glands...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between intrapartum synthetic oxytocin and child behavioral and emotional problems and to assess if maternal depressive or anxious symptoms or mother-to-infant bonding play a mediating role in this association. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Population-based Pregnancy Anxiety and Depression Study. PARTICIPANTS: Pregnant women in their first trimester of pregnancy visiting a total of 109 primary and nine secondary obstetric care centers in the Netherlands between 2010 and 2014 were invited to participate...

Gestational stress can increase postpartum depression in women. To treat maternal depression, fluoxetine (FLX) is most commonly prescribed. While FLX may be effective for the mother, at high doses it may have adverse effects on the fetus. As environmental enrichment (EE) can reduce maternal stress effects, we hypothesized that a subthreshold dose of FLX increases the impact of EE to reduce anxiety and depression-like behavior in postpartum dams exposed to gestational stress. We evaluated this hypothesis in mice and to assess underlying mechanisms we additionally measured hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function and brain levels of the hormone oxytocin, which are thought to be implicated in postpartum depression...

BACKGROUND: Estrogen increases dramatically during pregnancy but quickly drops below prepregnancy levels at birth and remains suppressed during the postpartum period. Clinical and rodent work suggests that this postpartum drop in estrogen results in an estrogen withdrawal state that is related to changes in affect, mood, and behavior. How estrogen withdrawal affects oxytocin (OT) neurocircuitry has not been examined. METHODS: We used a hormone-simulated pseudopregnancy followed by estrogen withdrawal in Syrian hamsters, a first for this species...